Tainted Blood
by SilverWolf-Ryuki
Summary: [AU] First full moon of every month –worst days of Kai’s life. He wants to escape the curse of Black Dranzer the only way is finding Dranzer. But Kai finds more than he bargained for... ReiMariah KaiMariam w Shaman King[CHP 24 UP]
1. Prologue

**Tainted Blood**

Prologue

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

One night, it happened…

From that night on, I was born for the second time.

I was blinded by its perfection and its power. It was perfect, yes, but it was filthy. Tainted. Contaminated. Darkness and shadows surrounded its perfect being. I couldn't help myself.

I just had to taste its power.

Its strength is indescribable and its power was blinding. I knew that from that day on, I could never be neutral again, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

Despite the order from my grandfather, Voltaire, whose only desire for me is perfection; I went over to the blade.

It was this or Voltaire's life plan for me.

The choice was barely a choice for me at all, at the time.

I picked up the blade and launched it into total destruction...

Tonight is going to be the first full moon of the month. I dread this day with my life. No one will be safe, no one, not even myself.

I desire to find a way to escape this curse.

I have to find a way to escape this curse.

I must...

Or else...

No One Will Be Safe...

No one...

Not even myself...


	2. Chapter 1: Shocking Kill

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 1

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

A bright ray of sunlight stung Kai's closed eyes. He slowly turned to his side, and was rewarded with stinging of cuts and aching from his muscles. It was as if someone had begun to stomp in his brain, a dull ringing echoed in Kai's ears.

Suddenly, he realized something – he was lying on concrete. He opened his eyes quickly, and found himself on the roof of his building. His clothes were ripped, and his head ached. His body stung from cuts and bruises that covered his body. Kai slowly pushed himself up, but winced, as his shoulders sent hot flashes of pain through his whole body.

Despite the fact that his whole body was refusing to move, Kai sat up. He looked at his skin and his hands; they told him he was back to normal, and no longer what he was.

Painfully, Kai climbed down the stairs that let up to the rooftop. He made his way into his, or rather his grandfather's, house.

House...? More like a mansion.

Kai slowly dragged his bloodied body across the carpet just washed by the maid. He left trails of crimson behind as he went directly into the shower. He stripped out of his scratched up and torn clothing and into the tub, where he turned on the cold water and let the coolness wash away the fresh feeling of blood off his skin and hair. Slowly, the water that dripped off his body was fully crimson; it stained the tub a pinkish color. A few minutes later, the red was gone again, after all the blood was rinsed off.

After a long shower, Kai stepped out, dried himself and slipped on a bathrobe. He then got out of the shower and into the living room, where he flicked on the TV while getting some food from the kitchen nearby. When he stepped back into the living room, the reporter was talking about last night's attack.

_I wonder whom I killed this time._ Kai thought as he picked up the remote controller.

"Hello, this is Cindy Locks reporting live from the attack site. Yesterday night, a murder was committed, just like the last first full moon. The question every one is asking is: can there really be a werewolf wandering among us?" The blond reporter announced with a worried expression on her face. She glanced back at the house, which looked awfully familiar.

"Yeah, a murderer stands right here." Kai muttered to himself.

"Last night, the victim suffered a horrible fate. Tyson Granger, a teen, was killed. His body was rip- ah...destroyed. No details will be given, for Tyson's grandfather..."

Kai frowned and flicked the TV off. His head hung as he slowly walked into his room, which was upstairs. He got dressed and pocketed his Dranzers, along with a launcher and a ripcord. He slowly walked downstairs again and sat on a one-person sofa chair.

Slowly, he reached into his pocket and took out Black Dranzer. His frown deepened as he gripped his blade tightly, the attack ring bit into his skin. He looked at the bit-chip; a black phoenix looked back at him. The ray of sunlight that escaped through a spot the curtain did not cover danced upon the picture of the mythical animal.

_Why do you do this to me? _Kai closed his grey eyes. _I killed my own my...friend. _Kai gripped his blade so tight his knuckles turned white. "I HATE you, Black Dranzer!!" He snarled as he chucked the dark blade toward the nearest wall with all his power.

Before the blade got close to the wall, a dark glow surrounded it and an invisible force pushed it back to Kai, who caught it just before it hit his face. Kai frowned at the blade, his other hand tightened into a fist.

"Quite trying, you fool."

A voice said from behind Kai, who turned immediately to see whom it was. Almost right after, Kai stood up hastily as Voltaire walked in.

"Grandfather," Kai acknowledged.

Voltaire shook his head, disappointed. "You are truly a fool, trying to throw such a power at a wall. Even if the blade hits the wall, it will not break. You have tried many times; you should know the results already. Plus, you would be destroying a large amount of power."

"I just wanted to try, incase it worked. I hate it. I don't care if the power is destroyed."

Voltaire's eyes opened, fury danced in it. "I told you not to touch that filthy blade, didn't I? Did you listen to me? No. You disobeyed and went to play with one of the most dangerous toys there are."

Kai looked down, ashamed. "I only thought you were trying to-"

"Well, I guess you thought wrong." Voltaire interrupted harshly. He sighed, "I guess that's your punishment. There might be something you could do, but that you will have to figure out yourself." He said quietly.

Kai suddenly looked up, was his grandfather trying to help him?

Voltaire walked over to where Kai was standing and put a hand on his shoulder. "You are my grandson, Kai Hiwatari, the heir of all possessions of the Hiwatari family. You are the future ruler of the Hiwatari family fortune. I cannot afford for you to be tainted and corrupt. You are not to be a failure, understand?" Voltaire growled before he walked out.

Kai sat down again with a sigh._ Is that he cares about, his family honor and fortune? What does he mean by there might be something I could do, but I have to find it out myself? _Kai looked at Black Dranzer once again. _Black Dranzer, it did so much damage as it entered my life..._

Suddenly, Kai's eyes widened. _Black Dranzer...BLACK Dranzer...that means..._

_Could there be another Dranzer out there?_

TBC...

---

Ryuki: So...that was the first chapter of this story. Please, play along. Dranzer was never introduced to Kai, and Tyson was never Kai's teammate, only friend. Tyson doesn't have Dragoon. Thanks people. :) RR!

Disclaimer: This writer does not own Beyblade. ;-)


	3. Chapter 2: In China

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 2

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

From Last Chapter...

Suddenly, Kai's eyes widened. _Black Dranzer...BLACK Dranzer...that there be another Dranzer out there?_

---

Kai threw open the door to Voltaire's bedroom and stomped in. He nearly ran towards his grandfather, who he usually dreads to see.

"Yes Kai?" The older man looked away from his book.

"Grandfather, you do have the world's largest collection of bit-beasts and bit-beast DNA, right?" Kai demanded.

"Yes, Kai, and please do not use that tone of voice with me."

Kai ignored the command. "Do you happen to have the bit-chip Dranzer?"

Unexpectedly, the older man smiled, just slightly. "Finally you have figured it out. Well, sorry to disappoint you, Kai, but Dranzer is a sacred bit-beast. It is not within my reaches."

"WHAT?" Kai blinked, he gave a 'heh' stuffed with disbelief. "What do you mean you don't HAVE it?"

"I mean what I say, Kai." Voltaire frowned.

Kai groaned. "Yeah, I finally figure it out, and you tell me you don't have the bit-chip. Great, it makes my day."

Kai was just about to walk out, when Voltaire laughed a dry laugh. "You never asked me if I knew where I was."

Kai turned, "well, do you?"

"No." Voltaire replied. Kai's eyebrow twitched, making him look as if he was about to yell at the older man, when Voltaire raised a hand, stopping him. "You never asked me if I knew someone who did know where it is."

"Yeah, and you're just going to say no." Kai almost yelled, but thought better.

"Actually, Kai, I do know someone who does." Voltaire smirked. Kai cocked an eyebrow.

---

"All set, Mister Kai. Ready to take off – are you comfortable?"

A man said to Kai, who was currently seated in an armchair in a luxurious private plane, which also held a mini-fridge, seats for another 20 people to sit comfortably and with space to move around. There was a table to every 2 seats that had flowers in a dent in the middle, made so that the water would not spill when the plane takes off.

"You think? I'm alone in a privet plane that was made for more of a whole conference meeting than a teen flying to China." Kai said dryly, "with fridges, flowers, scented oil that fills this whole jet with smelly stuff that people enjoy."

The man shifted nervously. "So, is that a yes or no?"

Kai sighed. "Go away, I'm fine."

The man nodded slowly and made his way to the front of the plane, where the workers were. Kai shook his head slowly and looked around him, there was emptiness everywhere. Kai frowned.

After a few moments, the plane started to shift, and then Kai could feel the plane start to lift off. The unstable things – Kai's luggage to be specific – slid on the ground from one side to another. Kai wouldn't let the flight guy put it up where the luggage goes. Having it on the ground makes it easier for Kai to just go out and carry it. Plus, it was a small bag.

After a few hours, the man who came earlier came back. "We will be landing in 5 minutes." He informed and bowed, then walked out. Kai sighed and threw away his drink that he just finished and sat back down again as he felt the plane dive.

Before long, Kai found himself walking down the plane and into a small village. It was small, yet it had everything one needed to live peacefully.

"Mama, Kan ah! Fei ji!" Mom, look, airplane a small boy said to his mother in mandarin as he pointed to the plane that Kai arrived in. A few mothers yelled something about the plane, which caused a few teens to come out.

"Ni men- Kai?" Lee was just about to stop the fight when he frowned and looked sideways. He blinked in surprise as he noticed the blue haired teen approaching the village. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Kai smiled slightly. "I'm here on...well; one would call it a mission."

Just then, Rei and Mariah also came out, along with Gary and Kevin. "Lee, haven't you stopped these people yet?" Mariah grumbled as she started to look towards her brother. Suddenly, her eyes fell upon Kai.

"Kai...?" Rei asked, confused.

"Kai," Kevin frowned. "What is HE doing here?"

Lee and Kai made their way to the rest of the teens.

"Oh, hello Kai," Mariah smiled as she looked at him and the plane. "I guess you came in that?"

"I would have walked here, but it's kind of a long way off." Kai shrugged. "Anyway...I'm here to see your village head chief."

"Elder? Oh, he's in there." Gary said as he pointed to gold and violet decorated 'house'.

"Thanks." Kai nodded and ran towards the home.

---

"Elder?" Kai called as he reached the hut/house. He peaked into the dark surrounding. On the far end of the room was a chair, and upon it sat an old man. Kai hesitated, before stepping in completely. The elder smiled and motioned for him to come. Seeing that, Kai slowly made his way to the older being.

"You are Kai Hiwatari, are you not?" The old man said in a quiet and husky voice. Kai nodded. The elder sighed and looked into space. He motioned for Kai to kneel down on one knee in front of him. He put a hand on Kai's head and closed his eyes.

"Elder, I am here to ask-"

The older man shushed Kai as he concentrated. "You...seek a pure power, do you not? You are tainted; you blood is tainted. You seek for a way to purify yourself and escape the grasp of...Black Dranzer."

Kai frowned. _How does this guy know so much about me?_

The older man chuckled. "Kai, there is a reason I know where most of the bit-beasts are; almost the same reason I can read your desire." The man took his hand away from Kai's head. Kai stood up.

"Can you assist me, Elder?"

"No. I cannot assist you. I am far too old." The old man said kindly. "But I know someone who can." Kai frowned, it does seem like both his grandfather and this Elder speaks the same way. "You know Rei, do you not? I passed my knowledge onto him. Take him, and the other 2 children, Mariah and Lee with you on your search. They should assist you. That is all I can do for now, I am sorry that my skills are limited. I give you luck on your journey."

Kai bowed. "Thank you for your knowledge. But since you know of my problem, isn't it putting the others to danger?"

The elder laughed. "You are very considerate, Kai. No, Rei has the sacred bit-beast, Drigger, to protect his people. He should be fine. Afterwards tell your grandfather – we are even."

Kai nodded, smiled and walked out.

---

"Why is Kai here?" Mariah said quietly to the others as they waited for Kai to come out. "He doesn't usually come for a visit to the Elder."

"It must be something important, or else he would have contacted by mail or phone." Lee said firmly.

"Well, Kai doesn't really do things without reasons, if you ask me." Rei shrugged.

"Yeah, which means he's up to no good." Kevin growled.

Mariah glared at the smaller boy. "Why are you still pissed off? It's been nearly 3 years. Anyways, here comes Kai."

Just then, the blue haired teen came up to them. He motioned for Rei, Lee and Mariah to follow. They shrugged at each other and followed Kai into a nearby forest.

"What's wrong?" Rei asked immediately after they stopped walking and was near the heart of the forest.

"Guys, you're coming with me on a trip. Well, more of a mission than a trip." Kai announced.

The 3 others each raised an eyebrow.

The blue haired teen sighed deeply. "I have...a confession..."

TBC...

---

Ryuki: Yep, short chapter, again. This is the beginning of a more exiting part of the story. Right now, I'm setting up what happens before. This story can't really just start right off with action. Anyways, RR!


	4. Chapter 3: Confession

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 3

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

From Last Chapter...

The blue haired teen sighed deeply. "I have...a confession..."

---

All were speechless.

Rei, Lee and Mariah stared at Kai with wide eyes. Lee was the first to speak. "You...you're the..."

"Yeah." Kai replied monotonously.

"Why didn't you tell-?"

Kai laughed bitterly. "If I told you I was a murderer, would you still be my friend? Would you even go NEAR me? I have more senses than to go out on the street and scream out 'I am a murderer and I killed all those people on the first full moon'. It's not like I can choose not to be a monster."

Rei sighed. "It's OK Kai; we won't run away from you or anything. We know you are a friend and do not mean to hurt others, but you cannot help it because Black Dranzer controls you. We'll help you. But did Elder say how we were to protect ourselves?"

"Yeah, you have the Drigger, one of the sacred bit-beasts of China. It will save you and all your people from my evil." Kai said in a voice that almost makes it seem he's mocking himself, and the fact that a dark bit-beast is tainting his blood.

"Oh." Ray said; his head hung slightly as he realized he just made the matter worse.

"Doesn't matter," Kai replied. "When do you want to go? We could stop by my house to pick up necessary equipments and stuff."

"That sounds fine." Mariah nodded. "How are we going to get there?"

Kai frowned and turned his head towards where the plane he came from was. There was nothing there.

A frustrated sigh came from the blue haired teen. "My grandfather hired IDIOTS to work for him."

"I guess we go like this." Lee shrugged. "It doesn't quite make a difference for me. We have what we need to survive right here in the village."

"Alright," Kai plopped down on the grass. "But I'll just stay here and wait."

"Suit yourself." Mariah shrugged and ran off. Ray and Lee followed.

As he watched the others go, his mind wandered to the subject of time. _How long will it take before I can find Dranzer? How will Rei find it in the first place? Grandfather did mention something about a tracker...Perhaps Rei can detect the sacred bit-beasts._

The blue haired teen sighed as he lied down on the grass and looked up at the sky. It was blue with specks of white clouds. The sun was hidden, yet when the wind blew the clouds apart, the sun's rays shone upon the Earth. Kai closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of herbs and grass. His ears picked up chirps of birds and the splash of water racing from one end of the stream to the other.

Then, he could hear footsteps and his name being called. Kai opened one eye, and there stood Lee, Rei and Mariah with their bags. They handed one to Kai. "Lets go." Lee announced.

"Hold on, I'm kind of confused." Kai said as he slowly stood up, brushed off pieces of grass, and took the bag they gave to him. "How do you know where Dranzer is?"

"Well..." Rei paused, gathering his thoughts. "I have special senses. Once someone mentions a bit-beast name to me that I have no idea where is, my senses will tell me where it is. I have to know about the bit-beast though. It's kind of like using radar to detect stuff. Elder taught me how to control it."

Kai blinked. "OK..." He said slowly as he looked around. "So, where to?"

Rei pointed towards his left.

"Uh...which country is it in?" Mariah said nervously. "It better not be across the ocean."

"I have NO idea." Rei shrugged. "My senses only tell me if I am getting closer or not."

"Oh that's helpful." Kai grumbled as he started to follow the others, who had started walking already.

_Well...at least this time, my companions know as much about survival as I do. Perhaps even more in this foreign country._

---

Voltaire closed his eyes and smiled. "Finally, they are on their way."

"Yes, Voltaire, they are. Taking the plane away from them will give them more of a challenge." A violet haired man replied.

"Boris, all you care about is challenge and testing." The older man chuckled.

"I take that as a compliment, Voltaire."

"Take it as you'd like. Right now, I need to make sure nothing they can't handle comes their way. That isn't too much work. After all, he IS my grandson. You've trained him well, Boris, now lets see if he remembers his training..."

---

There was no conversation between the 4 teens, as there should be with normal teenagers when they are walking in the forest all by themselves. Then again, they are not normal teenagers. After a cough from one of them, silence fell upon the 4 again. Kai, Mariah, Lee and Rei busied themselves with walking and observing their surroundings so that they aren't lost in any way.

Not that they would be.

After what seemed like forever of walking in a forest climate, they reached a more grassy and flat area. A speck of something was lying on the horizon. Mariah squinted, as did the other three, to see what it is.

"A village?" Kai asked no one in particular. He squinted as his eyes ached from trying to see further than he could.

"Yeah." Mariah replied, for her eyesight was better and she could see properly. "A quite small village. Its kind of unusual, actually."

"You're right..." Lee said to her younger sister. "It feels...dead, even though its so far away."

Rei sensed emptiness and a certain feeling of death from the village. He sighed, not wanting to believe it. "Why don't we get closer to see?"

"Lets." Kai nodded and started to walk towards it. "It won't slow us down will it?"

"No." Rei shook his head. "It's along the way of Dranzer. Plus, maybe we can spend the night there."

Silence took over again as the 4 teens walked over to the village, as the sun was getting low. As they approached, all 4 frowned as a smell reached their nose at almost the same time.

"It's...the smell of death." Kai said quietly as he remembered the scent from all this victims and the smell that lingered on him. "I can feel it...they are all dead."

With that, the blue haired teen ran towards the village grounds with the other three trailing behind him.

The 4 stopped right after they saw a close up of what the village was like. Kai's eyes narrowed as his hands formed into a fist.

In front of them were hundreds of dead bodies that once were alive lying in a pool of their own blood. Blood, both fresh and dry, were sprayed everywhere. Kai walked closer, ignoring the mud under his shoes that were made of dirt and blood. Pieces of flesh were scattered around as birds and wild dogs came to feast upon it. He looked around at the area once again with disbelief.

"Who did this?" He asked no one. "Why?"

"Someone did this...? No way any ordinary human could have done all this. It couldn't have been a war – there are no weapons and all the corps here is from the same village. One can tell easily by their clothing." Lee shook his head with disbelief. "It could have been a herd of animals, but there are no bite marks. Only claw marks and gashes; most of the cuts seems as if someone used a claw to make it."

"Then what could it be?" Mariah demanded. "The animals would have been killed as well. This village must have some weapons of their own. Some animals must have been killed, if it were animals."

"Perhaps..." Rei hesitated. "It was not an animal. Or, not a normal one anyways."

Kai hung his head. "Are there more people like me?"

"Perhaps not like you. Perhaps who attacked this village is a mythical animal, such as a werewolf, or a demon." Rei said firmly.

"Even though..." Mariah said, changing the subject. "Why?"

Unexpectedly, Kai laughed. "Why? Now we know probably who, or what, did this, the answer why is easy. The answer is the desire to kill. Why else would a demon attack a plain old village?"

"Unless..." Rei's eyes widened. "They knew something..."

Silence settled once again among the 4 teenagers.

Then, suddenly, the creak of an opening door made all four of them jump. Quickly, all 4 turned around to face the source of the sound. Kai had managed to grab his knife and hide it in his sleeves, incase the thing tried something. What they saw surprised them.

It was a man, an old man.

TBC...

---

Ryuki: Yeah, another chapter. Anyways, this chapter is the start of a twist. Ah shit, I just ruined it for you...oh well. Have fun, and don't forget to review! Yep, the review button is that little purple button on the left bottom. Click it and write a message, then press submit review!


	5. Chapter 4: Dragonfang and Dragoon

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 4

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

From Last Chapter...

Then, suddenly, the creak of an opening door made all four of them jump. Quickly, all 4 turned around to face the source of the sound. Kai had managed to grab his knife and hide it in his sleeve, incase the thing tried something. What they saw surprised them.

It was a man, an old man.

¤

The old man was dressed in the same clothing as the dead villagers. His eyes contained sorrow and pain.

"I see you've met my dead villagers." He said bitterly. "If you're here to kill me as well, go ahead. I'm not telling you anything."

His greeting surprised all four teens. "Err...Mister..." Mariah said as she gave a sincere smile. "We're not here to kill you. In fact, we don't even know how all of them...well...died. We were traveling around ourselves when we stumbled upon your village, and we are all unhappy for the death of your village."

Kai pretended to tie his shoes, and took the chance to slip his knife away into a custom made knife strap in his jacket sleeve incase he gave the poor old man a heart attack. But if the man tried something funny, he would have instant access.

The man's eyes softened. "Are you really traveling around? It's getting late... Why don't you come in to spend the night here?" He smiled sincerely. "My house, it's not much, but it is better than sleeping outside."

Rei and Lee bowed. "Thank you."

Kai nodded towards him.

The man smiled. "Silent one, eh?"

"Until he gets smart with his talking, or becomes extremely rude and direct." Mariah rolled her eyes.

"You can call me Dragonfang, it's my village name. Since I was chief, I got the name Dragon."

"Dragonfang? You're village, the village of the Dragons, is an ally with my village, the village of the White Tigers." Lee said, surprised. "We lost contact with you a while ago, perhaps this is the reason?"

Dragonfang nodded sadly, he then shook his head as if to put it aside. "What about you four youngsters?" Dragonfang asked. "What are your names?"

"I'm Mariah."

"Lee, I'm Mariah's brother."

"You can call me Rei."

"Hiwatari, Kai."

Dragonfang smiled. "I have heard of you three, but not Kai."

"He's not part of the village..." Mariah explained.

The 5 all went in and sat down cross-legged on the floor mat that was laid down on the ground.

"Dragonfang..." Kai said carefully. "If you don't mind me asking, what is it that you know of made the attackers kill your village?"

The old man was surprised at the directness of the question. Mariah sighed. "Exactly my point."

Dragonfang sighed as the same look of sadness spread across his face. "Since you are my allies, I will tell you. It is better to get it out to someone. Our village, The Village of the Dragons, we know many tales about all the holy beasts. Perhaps you've heard of them, they are not called...something with bit..."

"Bit-beasts." Lee told him.

"Yes, thank you Lee. These sacred bit-beasts are different. There are many kinds of them. First ones I'm going to explain are the Chinese ones. All the animals of the Chinese Zodiac – mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. There is one bit-beast of each animal that is sacred. For example, I have the Dragon, called the Shenlong, translating to be the Holy, or Sacred, Dragon. It is also renamed to Dragoon. Your village," He said to Lee, Mariah and Rei, "has the Tiger, called the Baihu, translated to be the White Tiger, later renamed the Drigger."

Rei nodded and showed him his blade, containing the bit-chip of Drigger.

Dragonfang smiled. "Aside from the sacred bit-beasts of china, there are sacred bit-beasts of the world. These are more powerful and more rare. Yet, they are more dangerous if they are passed onto the wrong hands, or if they take over the wrong bodies. The Phoenix, for example, is a very unusually powerful bit-beast. It has two versions of the same beast, yet they are like yin and yang. The yin, the dark, possesses the first person to touch it to be its body at every first full moon. The yang, the light, it purifies. Both bit-beasts are incredibly strong, if wielded the right way."

Kai gave a low growl. Dragonfang looked at Kai, confused. Rei sighed. "Let's skip the phoenix. What about the others?"

"Well, the Unicorn is another one, along with the Pegasus. They both are powerful and quite pure, though the Unicorn is more powerful than the Pegasus. Their wielder can decide where the bit-beasts' position is on the good and bad list. There are a few more, though I am not sure about them, since some of my ancestor's notes were lost.

"Then, there are sacred animals bit-beasts for elements of nature. The condition and strength of the user is very important to them, because if the user is weak, it will be as well. These bit-beasts contain very powerful inner ki. There is the Wolf, for Strength. For Water, there is the Shark. For Sky, or Air, there is the Griffon. For the Greenness, there is the Deer. The Phoenix also takes on fire in the elements, aside from Light and Dark. The Fox takes the element Earth. Last, and certainly not least, the Cerberus, which takes on the element of Hell."

Lee looked at his own Beyblade. "22 sacred bit-beasts that we know of, 12 are in China, hopefully they still are. 10 are scattered across the rest of the world. Kai has one, which makes 9. Hmm,"

Mariah sighed, looking into space. "Wow...I wonder how it would be like if one had all that power."

"One would almost bust with desire for more, if they had all the sacred bit-beasts." Kai growled.

"Yet, I have heard rumors." Rei said thoughtfully. "If all the sacred bit-beasts are gathered together in one place, an amazing thing will happen."

"Hopefully, their definition of amazing is not world domination for them, or world destruction." Kai remarked, sarcastically.

"Kai." Dragonfang said slowly. "Why are you uncomfortable talking about the Phoenix?"

Kai sighed. "I'm not." He said. "If I were uncomfortable with the Phoenix bit-beast, I wouldn't be carrying one in my pocket."

_This young boy has the phoenix? How? One as young as him would not be able to wield it. Even I would not be able to wield it. This boy does not look powerful enough! Perhaps, there is another phoenix out there that is not the sacred bit-beast. Perhaps, he is joking. I must ask..._

Dragonfang looked suspicious. "What do you mean, you have one in your pocket?"

"I mean what I say." Kai said.

"You do have...the Dranzer, right?" Dragonfang laughed nervously, suddenly losing his impression of an Elder and the Chief of a village. Now he seemed more of a kid. "Of course you don't. What am I talking about?"

"I have no idea."

"Answer me." Dragonfang suddenly demanded. "Do you have the Dranzer?"

"Nope."

"Good, so you have another phoenix that formed."

"Nope."

"Then, you were joking?"

"No, I have Black Dranzer."

"You have the Black Dranzer." Dragonfang repeated numbly after a few minutes of silence.

Kai nodded slowly and sighed.

"You can wield the bit-beast perfectly fine?"

"Yes."

Dragonfang hesitated; part of him didn't want to know the answer. "You...turn into a demon at the first full moon?"

Kai's eyes darkened. He closed his eyes and hung his head. "Have you been watching the news?"

Dragonfang's eyes widened, the color on his face drained.

"He doesn't mean to." Mariah said angrily. "God, you of everyone should know that the Black Dranzer possesses the first person that touches it with his or her bare skin."

"Plus, Kai is still a friend, no matter what." Rei agreed.

"The first full moon was last night." Kai said quietly. "You don't have to worry."

"Its...not that." Dragonfang said at last.

"Oh, yeah, and you expect us to believe that you got terrified of Kai because you had no idea of Black Dranzer's powers?" Lee asked, raising an eyebrow. "You have almost all the information on the Sacred Bit-beasts, for goodness sakes."

"No." Dragonfang sighed. "Its...Kai is so young now. How old was he when he first received this bit-beast?"

"I didn't receive it." Kai said. "I stole it from my grandfather's vault. I was almost 8 years old."

Dragonfang looked even paler. "You had control over Black Dranzer when you were not even 10 years old?"

"I would have chosen not to, but I wasn't sophisticated enough back then to realize the danger of this bit-beast." Kai muttered.

"Yet, you were still able to control it?" Dragonfang questioned.

His reply came in a form of nodding.

_This child...He can control the Black Dranzer so easily! He does not even look exhausted or pained when the bit-beast is still in his pocket. A normal person would have been crying in pain. _

_Perhaps, he is the right wielder for this evil. But he looks so pure, how can he have a core as evil as Black Dranzer? If he doesn't, how does he cooperate with Black Dranzer so well?_

_No, I sense purity from this child. If so, then the only solution other than he has an evil core is that he is the supposed owner of ALL the sacred bit-beasts. Perhaps he is destined to try the impossible task of finding all the sacred bit-beasts and gathering them to one place, as Rei said. _

_But he's only a child!_

_Perhaps, there is more to this child than meets the eye. _

¤

After the explaining, the light was dimmed and the 5 lied down on the thick padding that Dragonfang provided. The 4 teens shared a room as Dragonfang went to another. The 4 were jus about to fall asleep, when a sudden gasp made them all sit up, alarmed. They all turned to the source of the gasp – Rei.

"What's wrong, Rei?" Mariah asked softly as she stifled a yawn.

"My bit-beasts senses!" Ray hissed, trying not to wake Dragonfang, or make him come down to check upon them.

"What about them?" Lee whispered?

"They are jumbled!" Rei hissed again. "I can sense about 20 bit-beasts now! It's so impossible! How can this be? It was so clear before! Now, I cannot even identify which one is which!"

"I know why." Kai said calmly and quietly. "You said before that in order to sense a bit-beast, you need to know its name and information about it, correct? Today, when we discussed about the sacred bit-beasts, you got all the information you need. Unconsciously, you probably wanted all of them. Therefore, you started to sense more without realizing it. Now, you cannot get rid of them."

"How can you make it seem like such a 'matter of fact'?" Mariah looked at him with disbelief. She then turned back to Rei. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well..." Kai opened his mouth to talk, but closed it. "Why don't you guys think of what to do for once?"

Silence.

3 pairs of eyes turned to glare at the blue haired boy.

Kai sighed. "We could look for all of them."

Mariah snickered. "That's kind of...stupid."

"Have you a better plan?" Kai growled.

Silence.

"Alright, so it's decided. We go to the closest one. Then, in time, out of the 19 others there's got to be one that is Dranzer." Lee clapped, but was rewarded with a loud 'SHHHHHH'.

"OK, we'll start tomorrow morning right away." Rei nodded. "Night."

"Night." Lee said while yawning.

"Goodnight everyone." Mariah called quietly as she took her place to go to sleep.

"..."

Kai frowned as he closed his eyes. He opened them again to look at the ceiling.

_What if I never find Dranzer? Then, I will never be cured. I will never be able to stop killing...No isn't an option. I must get Dranzer._

¤

Upstairs, Dragonfang smiled.

_So, they are planning to go through all of the bit-beasts. This is their destiny, for the Elder of their village never had that problem of sensing more bit-beasts than necessary. Yes, this is fate, and I think it might be time to give fate a little push._

He took out his Dragoon.

_They can have Dragoon. Perhaps, it will help them in some way._

The man sighed and stood up. He looked out his window at the night sky.

_Kai, I have total faith in you, boy. You are the chosen one, I now know. I will help you in any way I can. He is pure hearted, but he is chosen. He will be the one who discover what is truly behind the myth._

_I know he will._

¤

TBC...

Ryuki: Yes, corny, cheesy, whatever. Who cares? No, Dragonfang will NOT be coming with the 4 on their trip. I just can't imagine 4 teenagers and an old man. ;)

Anyways, that's another chapter. If you didn't press the purple button the last time, do it NOW! Please. :)


	6. Chapter 5: Enter Tala and Mariam

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 5

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

Note: Yey, it's my B-day today!! Thanks for all those people who reviewed - luv you all!!

* * *

From Last Chapter...

_Kai, I have total faith in you boy. You are the chosen one, I now know. I will help you in any way I can. He is pure hearted, but he is chosen. He will be the one who discover what is truly behind the myth._

_I know he will._

---

A certain Chinese teen opened one eye, to find a figure looming over him. The light of the morning gave the figure shadows in which made him look almost...demonic. Lee, who was still half asleep, saw the boy with his face covered in darkness. Rei's eyes did not help either; they almost glowed in the shadows. Not to mention his pointed teeth, it looked sharp and ready to sink into flesh.

The older Chinese boy's eyes widened as he gave a cry of fright and jumped up to a sitting position, causing Ray to tumble back onto his back.

"Ouch..." Rei mumbled as he rubbed his back. "What was that for?"

Lee blinked, shook his head and looked at Rei again. "Oh, it's you."

Mariah, who was gathering her stuff, laughed when she saw the comical clip. Lee glared at her younger sister. "How would you like it to wake up having someone with a black face and glowing eyes looming over you? Not to mention the fangs..." Lee grumbled. "It's not a good way to start off a day..."

"That's one of the reason I got him to wake you up." Mariah smiled with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "He did that to me once, it scared the ghosts out of me. That one was an accident, though..."

"Oh, that's nice of you..." Lee said sarcastically as he slowly stood up.

"Yeah, wasn't it? My back is aching like crazy now..." Rei replied smartly to Lee's comment as he stood up himself, still rubbing his back.

"Sorry about that..." Lee bowed almost mockingly as he got his stuff to wash up. Just then, Kai came out of the bathroom.

"Did it work?" Kai asked as he put away his toothbrush and the other things he brought to the bathroom to wash up.

"Yeah," Mariah laughed. "It worked."

"I never expected it to...but since it did..." Kai shrugged. "Great way to wake up, huh... 'Vampire' over your bed and laughing pink haired sister nearby... Not to mention the embarrassment..." Kai said as he shortly summarized the morning for Lee.

Rei shrugged. "At least it wasn't Mariah who did it. That'd be a pink haired vampire..." Rei tapped his chin in thought. "Interesting..." Without realizing it, Mariah did the same as Rei as she also tapped her chin in thought. In unison, they burst into laughter as they imagined Dracula with pink locks cascading down his shoulders.

"I must say," Kai said as he sat down to gather his Beyblade stuff from his bag. "I kind of feel sorry for Lee."

Rei and Mariah smirked.

"I do too," Lee said, coming out of the washroom. "I should have seen that one coming..."

"But you didn't." Rei pointed out.

Kai cocked an eyebrow. "You don't do this...regularly...do you?" He asked slowly, partly dreading the results. "The tricks, I mean."

"Naw," Rei shook his head. "Once in a while, just for fun."

The blue haired teen silently sighed with relief. Another bunch of teens that act like Max and Tyson _will_ drive him insane.

_Tyson..._

Kai closed his eyes as he remembered the events that he had almost forgot. He looked up at the other three. "So, when do we start our search?"

"After all four of you eat," A voice said from above. Kai looked up to see Dragonfang coming down his stairs. The old man had his long greenish hair tied up into a long braid. In his hands was a white blade, the Dragoon. The man slowly walked towards Kai. "But first..."

Dragonfang placed the blade in Kai's hands. Kai looked at him, confused. "Why are you giving me this?" He questioned as he looked at the blade. "Isn't this the prize of your whole village?"

"Yes..." The old man smiled sadly. "However, I am old, and my time will be soon. The village is already dead, so no one else would be able to accept it and pass it on. You, boy, have what it takes, for you control the Black Dranzer. Normal beings wouldn't be able to even touch it without being burnt and drained of energy. I believe...you will accomplish your mission. Dragoon will help you."

Kai closed his eyes. "Thank you."

---

The 4 teens were silent once again since they left the wreaked village and returned to the road.

"Rei, which way do we go now?" Kai asked, monotonously.

Rei pointed to his left. "East," He announced. "And it's not very far."

Mariah raised an eyebrow. "I thought you couldn't sense how far it is."

"I thought so too." Rei said to her as they headed towards East.

"Perhaps," Kai started. "...never mind."

Silence seems to be very popular between the 4 as they traveled through the forest. Kai frowned as he looked around. "Isn't this the way we came?"

Lee looked around as well, and for the first time, he realized, "Yeah."

Mariah looked at Rei. "Are you sure we aren't going the wrong way?"

"No, it's not the same. We take a left, instead of the way we came, which was going straight. There's supposed to be a two-way cross somewhere near." Rei said as he looked around. "It should be near now..."

Just as he said, the 4 came across a two-way road. Rei smirked boastfully as he went left, and the other 3 followed.

The new turn took them into a darker part of the forest. The unusual silence made the 4 uncomfortable. This part of the forest had no chirp of crickets. There were no squawks of bird and no feel of wind. No rustling of leaves, no splashing of puddles and drips of dew -nothing.

Kai looked around, his eyes narrowed. He growled as he took out his Black Dranzer and put it on his launcher. Then, he inserted his ripcord and held it cautiously. Lee glanced at the blue haired teen, puzzled.

"Why are you getting defensive? There's barely a bird around."

"You're right. There is nothing at all." Kai muttered. "That's why it feels so wrong...You three should prepare for an attack."

Lee shrugged as he paused momentarily to get his stuff, as did Mariah. Then, Rei froze; his pupils shrank into nothing more than a slit. He hissed as he lowered his head. "It disappeared..."

"What?" Mariah and Lee asked in unison.

"The 'signal'...it disappeared..." Rei repeated. "That means..."

Just then, a blade came crashing through the bushes nearby and straight at Rei, whose eyes widened, for he did not prepare. The Chinese boy closed his eyes and waited for the pain, but it didn't come. Instead, a sound indicated another blade struck against it. Rei opened his eyes to see a black blade that knocked it off course. It was Lee.

"Rei, launch before it comes again, it seems to want take you down first." Kai ordered. "It must have realized you can sense the sacred bit-beasts"

"R-Right," Rei quickly fumbled with his beyblade and launched it.

Then, the white and blue blade came back again. This time, it started to glow and a beast was released. It was a wolf-like being with blue on its back that looked like wings. It held a light blue aura and growled as it pawed the ground almost casually. Then, another movement in the bushes caused 4 heads – one pink, one blue, and two black – to turn to look. A tall teen with crimson hair stepped out. He had striking light blue eyes and a frown on.

"Wolborg, finish them off." The boy said with a cold voice. The beyblade slowly gained speed and it struck against Drigger, Galeon, and Galux, causing them to fly back into their owner's hands. Kai growled and got into launching position, for he has yet to launch his beyblade. His hands tightened around the launcher and he pulled the ripcord.

"Go, Black Dranzer!" Kai called as he started to glow dark purple himself. The black blade had a dark purple aura, just like Kai, and it started to pick up speed as it circled the white and blue blade called Wolborg. The glow increased until the shadow spread so far that it covered the 5 teens. Then, all the shadows were absorbed once again back into the Beyblade. Finally, a graceful black being flew out. It was a phoenix. It was Black Dranzer.

The phoenix screeched and circled the wolf, which was growling and ready to pounce. Black Dranzer then dove down to strike Wolborg, but the wolf dodged it with a smug growl. Then, to Wolborg's surprise, the phoenix disappeared, and the next thing it knew, pain shot up its back.

"Wolborg..." The unknown teen said in his monotonous voice. "Use Icy Blizzard."

The wolf responded, and the whole area's temperature dropped many degrees, causing Lee, Mariah, Kai and Rei to shiver at the sudden temperature change. Kai growled as ice started to form around the ground and Black Dranzer screeched as it slowly weakened of the cold.

Seeing that his opponent, Kai, was slightly weakened, the teen smirked. "Now,"

Suddenly, Wolborg picked up speed and it rammed against Black Dranzer. At the same time, Black Dranzer did the same. But Wolborg, with the upper hand, struck harder.

A black wall of smoke hid the two beyblades from the sight of the others. Tala smirked as he waited for the result of the battle, knowing it would be another victory for his bit-beast, it being sacred and all.

Clearly, he did not know the power of the Black Dranzer.

Slowly, the smoke cleared. The temperature rose again as the smoke revealed the results of the battle.

Tala's eyes widened.

Wolborg was down.

Black Dranzer stood tall.

Slowly, the light from the black blade faded and the blade jumped into the hands of Kai.

Kai, who stood in the midst of the smoke, let the smoggy air fly past him. His eyes were hidden by a thick coat of shadows, as was most of his face. Kai's two-toned locks danced with the wind as he kept his eyes on Tala.

The crimson haired blader was shocked. In his years of beyblading alongside Wolborg, he has never lost a match, until now. _Who is this person? And how was he able to beat me without...breaking a sweat?_ The teen's crimson hair blew with the wind as he glared back at the blue haired teen. Tala's blue eyes darkened. "Who are you?" He growled. "Why were you able to beat me?"

Kai closed his eyes and reopened them and he raised his head slightly so his face was out of the shadows. "Why do you ask?"

Blue eyes narrowed angrily. "I ask because I want to know why."

Lee, Mariah and Rei watched the 2 as they continued to glare daggers at each other.

Kai smirked and pocketed his blade. He walked away from his glaring position and near the stranger. "Kai Hiwatari." He said. "I am owner of Black Dranzer, the sacred phoenix bit-beast. I was able to defeat you because...Black Dranzer is...another sacred bit-beast, like yours. It does outstrip your bit-beast in power, it's that or it could have been just luck, because the element Fire does beat Ice." Kai looked at Tala. "Your turn, who are you? I'd like to know my opponent."

"Tala," The crimson teen answered. "Ivanov, Tala."

"Well...we found one...but he's not it, is he?" Mariah sighed as she shook her head, pink hair flying around.

"No, he's the wolf." Rei announced.

"We kind of...figured that..." Lee scratched his head.

"Well...we ought to be leaving, I guess..." Kai sighed.

"Wait," Tala's sudden shout stopped the 4. "What exactly are you doing?"

An uncomfortable silence fell. Mariah, Lee, Kai and Rei glanced at each other, asking silent questions that weren't answered.

Kai sighed. "Since you are also a holder of a Sacred Bit-beast, I'll trust you will not fuss. Do you know the side effects of holding Black Dranzer's powers?"

Tala shook his head.

"Can't blame him, not many knew..." Mariah shrugged.

"Every first day of the cycle of full moons..." Kai looked down. "I transform into a...I guess you could say...beast. No one knows how I look like, because I am too fast to see properly and all pictures taken of me are blurred. I don't even know how I look, because...I can't remember anything most of the time. I choose a victim – the first person that comes to mind. I don't have to have seen them before. Then, I go out and I kill them. Most of the time, the victims are people I saw or knew, or hated."

Tala nodded slowly. "But that still doesn't explain what you are doing."

"The opposite of Black Dranzer is his brother, the Dranzer. Dranzer will cure my thirst for death and that will be one less danger for mankind, especially people I know."

"That boy there can sense the Sacred Bit-beasts, can't he?" Tala asked, pointing to Rei.

"Yeah," Kai nodded. "He is also the holder of the Tiger, which protects him and his people from being killed by me. If you were to come along, you would be protected as well, by your Wolf, the Wolborg."

"But of course, you probably aren't coming along." Kai continued, almost as if it were an afterthought. "Not many would."

"Actually, I'd like to come along." Tala said, surprising all 4. "I want to see the famous beast for myself. Plus...no one defeats me and goes out of my sight."

A sweat-drop formed on Mariah, Rei and Lee's temples. "Feisty one, I see..." Rei scratched his head.

"Before you decide to just...tag along, do you realize the danger involved in this trip?" Kai asked with an eyebrow raised.

"What are you going to do to stop me?" Tala asked back with an eyebrow raised as well.

Lee shrugged. "Not anything, really, but it's your call."

Kai looked down. _That's another person I'm putting to danger. At least he has a Sacred Bit-beast to protect him. _

"Where are we going to next, Rei?" Mariah asked the same question Kai was about to.

"We go straight forwards." Ray blinked. "Hmm, it seems these Sacred Bit-beasts are making it easier for us."

"It's probably just luck." Lee mumbled.

"Probably..." Mariah agreed.

Kai and Tala remained silent. They were lost in their own thoughts.

---

"Do you smell that?"

Tala suddenly said as he leaned his head back slightly, trying to smell the scent better.

"Smell what? What is it?" Rei asked, puzzled.

"It's..." Tala frowned, trying to identify the metallic scent.

"Blood," Kai finished for him. The familiar smell entered his nose. "It's fresh human blood."

Mariah and Lee cocked an eyebrow at the blue haired Kai, who ignored the looks given to him and ran towards the source of the scent. Kai entered a bushier area, as the scent grew stronger. Behind him were Tala, then Rei, Lee and Mariah. Kai suddenly stopped; he bent down and slowly parted the thick bushes of grass.

As the other 4 caught up, they looked down at the being lying in the grass. It was a teenage girl. Kai slowly leaned forwards and put a hand on the blood-covered neck of the girl. Kai frowned as the stickiness of the blood prevented him from getting a clear reading of the girl's pulse. Then, Kai put his hand over the girl's mouth and nose, and he let loose a breath he didn't know he was holding as he felt a tickle on his palm telling him that the girl was still breathing.

The blue haired teen slowly rose. "She's alive."

Mariah frowned. "Let's bring her to a source of water and wash up her cuts."

The others agreed, silently or with a gesture. Then, Lee froze. "Who's going to carry her?"

Uncomfortable silence fell between the guys. Mariah rolled her eyes. "Goodness sakes...I would, but I'm not sure I can get very far with her." Seeing the 'I don't know' looks on the guys' face, she sighed. "She's a girl, not a rabid animal that kills when it bites."

The silence did not leave.

"Thank you Lee, for bringing up the subject." The pink haired girl groaned. "Do you want to rock, paper, scissors for the responsibility? Or do you guys want to arm wrestle to see who's the strongest? Come on...seriously."

Kai looked down. Every second they waste may be a difference between life and death. Plus, he had killed many more people – nearly 80 more – than the rest. Sighing, he picked up the unconscious girl. "Where's the nearest water source?"

Tala walked ahead and motioned for the others to follow him.

"Trust him to know." Rei commented. "He must know this place like the back of his hands."

After a surprisingly short period of walking, they came across a stream. It was surrounded by thick grass. Being probably the only area in the forest that is without trees, it was as if the trees were plucked out of the ground, just in this area. The water from the stream was so clear that you could see each rock at the bottom. Kai found a patch of grass that was thicker than the rest. He sat the girl down and sat down beside her.

Mariah, on the other hand, dug through her bag. Moments later, she fished out an extra piece of cloth and gave it to Lee to dip with water. Then, she took out a bowl and a bag of dried herbs, and then she added some water with the dried plants and started to mix it in the bowl.

"Rei, do you have bandages?" Mariah called to him as she dug through her stuff. "I don't seem to have any."

Rei sat his bag down on the grass and dug through the contents of it. Then, he brought out a roll of white bandages. He threw it to Mariah, who caught it and made her way to where Kai and the girl were.

"How's she doing?" Mariah asked quietly. "Is she still alive?"

"Yeah," Kai replied.

Lee then joined the 2. He passed a damp cloth to Mariah, who started to dab at the blood on the girl.

Rei and Tala then joined the 3. Rei held a cup filled with water, where Mariah dipped her bloodied cloth.

"What happened to her?" Rei asked as he examined the girl's cuts closely. They were clean, as if someone used a knife on her. She also had bruises and gashes. The question was rhetorical, because he knew that none of the others knew what happened to the unknown girl.

Kai slowly stood up and walked over to the stream. He examined his black shirt, now stained with blood. He frowned as he remembered he left his luggage on the plane, the one that his grandfather's stupid workers flew away without his permission. He reached out his hand and let it dip in the clear, cool water. Small stains of blood on his hands dissolved it the water and floated away. He was slightly surprised when a small fish jumped out of the water and back in after a long period of stillness.

Reaching further, his hands hit a stone. He brought it up above the water and examined it. It was a dark blue color with squiggly stripes of lighter colors that one wouldn't expect on a stone. It was rubbed smooth by hitting other rocks in the water, but it had an edge on one side that was still pointed. Kai noticed a small speck of gold on its side as it reflected the light of the sun that appeared after they left Tala's area. Smiling at its uniqueness, Kai dropped it back into the water, causing a ripple.

He stayed like that for quite a while, enjoying the splash of water and the fresh air. Then, Rei came and sat beside him, in his hands, an old fashioned fishing rod. Basically, it was a stick with a string tied to it. On the string was a metal hook that Ray obviously brought from the village. The hook contained a small worm on it. Ray dropped it into the water.

"Are there any fishes in this water?" a voice said from behind both of them. Rei turned to find Lee there. He sat down beside Rei.

"Yeah," Kai nodded slowly. "There are a few small ones."

Lee sighed. "I better go with Tala to hunt, then." He jumped up and walked away and towards the crimson haired boy who was just about to leave.

Kai slowly stood up again; his knees gave a crack for sitting down for so long and standing up. Kai stretched, and he cracked his neck and back. He walked towards Mariah, who was sitting beside the girl.

"Is she ok?" Kai sat down once again, beside the girl.

Mariah sighed. "She's kind of beat, but she's OK."

The girl was in no doubt, better condition than before. Most of her blood was cleared up; most of her cuts were washed with water, rubbed with the herbal medicine and bandaged up.

"I wonder...what happened to her..." Mariah slowly said as she bandaged up another one of the girl's wounds.

"It must have been rough..." Kai mumbled as he kept his eyes on the girl. All of a sudden, he could have sworn that he saw her eyebrow twitch slightly, as if trying to open her eyes. Then, before he could identify what happened, the same look of nothingness returned on her pale face.

"Yeah," Mariah agreed softly. "I can't imagine going through that myself."

_I can._

The blue haired teen closed his eyes and turned around so that his back was facing Mariah and the girl. He opened his eyes and looked up at the darkening sky and frowned. Slowly, he watched as the sky as it turned into a shade of pinkish blue.

_I know how she feels..._

_I can imagine going through that..._

_I can._

TBC...

---

Ryuki: Well, that's it. Not a very cliffhanger ending, it's not even quite sad, but hey. I had to end it. Cheesy, corny, what_ever_. :) It's my birthday! -does a little dance-


	7. Chapter 6: Mariam Awakens

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 6

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Aww... T,T I'm in tears...thanks guys... AngeloflLight Blackdranzergurl, whooptidoo-basil (I'd be freaked out if your mate was a monster every first day of a full moon...lolz), youkiaofdaundrworld, ShadedRogue (Hilary?! Yeah, right...what_ever_...no, read the summary and see who Kai's paired up with. ;D), WindWitch (_Finally_! Someone who shares my looks on things. What you said is exactly what I had planned...), Monarch, Shaedowe, Go stick your head in a toilet (I love your name XD I hope I never meet Billy Bob Joe because he's on a mission to assasinate me...-ghasp-), Kilala-kat-ex, Lily-the-fox, kokujogirl, annonymous, LunaRavenCroftand MaoAyanami/okami. XD Luff you all...especially to those who said Happy Birthday to me. :)

* * *

From Last Chapter...

"Yeah," Mariah agreed softly. "I can't imagine going through that myself."

_I can._

The blue haired teen closed his eyes and turned around so that his back was facing Mariah and the girl. He opened his eyes and looked up at the darkening sky and frowned. Slowly, he watched as the sky as it turned into a shade of pinkish blue.

_I know how she feels..._

_I can imagine going through that..._

_I can._

**---**

After a meal of game hunted by Tala and Lee, and a few fishes that were surprisingly big that came out of the stream, all 5 of the teens were full and satisfied. The unknown girl remained unconscious, which got Mariah fussing about how she'd survive without food, and why she was unconscious for so long. That was before Tala burst her bubble and reminded her that people could be unconscious for quite a while.

They then set up a camp at the spot and all slept on their mats that they brought from the camp. It was lucky that they brought extras, incase theirs broke or was lost. Tala was happy to just sleep on the grass on such a nice day, and the girl was placed on a mat to rest.

Grey orbs opened slowly as Kai frowned. He sat up, not able to sleep. Kai looked around; the others were in dream land already. Kai sighed and stood up quietly. He slowly walked over to the stream. He sat down cross-legged beside the water and stared out into space. The full moon and the dark blue sky reflected upon the water in the stream, making it seem as if the water was different shades of blue. The color of the water reflected in the grey of Kai's eyes. If one were to look at him from the other side of the stream, they'd have the impression that his eyes were different shades of blue that rippled.

Kai stayed like that for a couple of hours, before returning to his 'bed' to catch some shuteye, incase the next day was rough.

**---**

A pair of piercing green eyes opened suddenly. The being looked up and realized she was under an open sky, instead of trees. Panicking, she tried to sit up, but was rewarded by pain and stinging of her body. Her nose caught the scent of herbs and medicine. Her body felt as if something was wrapped around it tightly. She reached up to touch her face and felt bandages.

Looking around, she saw the sun begin to come out and the sky lighten. Under the light, the green eyes widened as she saw many more people lying upon mats, except one person, who lied upon the bare grass. She looked down, and realized she was also lying on a mat.

_Who did this? Who brought me here? Why? Who are they?_

Questions raced in her mind, as she suddenly felt tired and dizzy. Her head felt as if it were to explode. Her eyelids drooped and she felt herself falling. Then, in a sudden movement, a black sheet covered the colors of the world...

**---**

Tala's eyes opened suddenly and he sat up abruptly. He looked around. Then, in the corner of his eyes, he saw the girl they found on in the forest. He could have sworn that she fell down onto the mat as soon as he looked that way. He slowly stood and made his way towards the girl, but she showed no sign of waking on consciousness.

Could she be pretending to be unconscious?

Tala shook his head. Someone with all those wounds and lost all that blood could not have been fine, and well enough to try tricks.

Could they?

Doubts left his mind as he made his way to the stream to wake himself up.

**---**

A certain blue haired boy stirred. He turned onto his side and his eyes opened. He sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his grey eyes. He shook his head and jumped onto his feet. He then strode over to the stream to wash up.

Remembering last night, Kai was surprised that he was able to get up so early this morning, without anyone waking him up. He half expected to wake up under the 'Dracula', as Lee did.

Kai looked over to where Tala slept last night and found the spot empty. _So...he's an early bird. Good to have someone wake up early. _

Then, Kai glanced over at the girl. She seemed to have moved during the night, for her hands were no longer at her side, but more spread out. Her fingers just reached the edge of the mat.

It must have been his imagination or his lack of memory in the morning.

_...It has to be..._

**---**

Lee slowly opened his eyes, even though his body refused to move. The Chinese boy yawned as he slowly sat up, despite the fact that his body is still telling him to stop and lie back down and sleep. He looked around and noticed that Tala was already gone. A patch in the grass showed where he slept last night. Lee yawned again and looked at everyone else.

They were all asleep.

All were asleep except Kai, who was putting away his stuff into his bag.

Lee slowly praised to God that he wasn't scared awake by Rei again, or worse yet – Mariah. He winced as he imagined a pink haired Dracula. Standing up, the black haired boy made his way to the stream. He dug through his backpack to find the things he needed to wash up with.

**---**

Next to wake up was Rei, who woke finding that he tossed and turned last night. What was his proof? Ray sighed and took loose his ponytail, which was now in a mess.

Slowly, while trying to tame his long hair, Ray made his way to his bag. Yawning and showing fangs, the Chinese boy tied up his hair and got out his stuff.

"Tired still?"

The voice made him jump. Mostly because he was half asleep, he didn't notice the older Chinese boy sitting near the stream.

"Oh it's you...morning Lee." Rei mumbled tiredly. He yawned again. "Am I Tired? I'd say yeah."

"You should have kept on sleeping if you were tired," another voice came behind the two. Rei turned to see Mariah.

"Hey Mariah." Rei greeted the pink haired girl.

"Morning, Mariah." Lee said to her younger sister.

"So, how's the girl?" Rei asked as he pointed to the still unconscious teen.

"She's...unconscious." Mariah said lamely.

"That's helpful." Yet another voice rang out from behind them. Kai walked towards the three.

"Hi Kai," Mariah gave a weak smile.

"Morning," Lee said.

Rei mumbled something unrecognizable with a mouthful of toothpaste.

"Yeah...great, Kun...charming." Tala's sarcasm reached everyone's ears as the crimson haired teen sat down near Kai.

"Hey." Lee greeted.

"'Lo." Mariah raised a hand.

Kai nodded towards him.

"Yo." Rei said moments later, after he got rid of all the bubbles and toothpaste in his mouth.

Kai turned his attention to Rei. "Are we still on track of the next bit-beast?"

"Yeah," The Chinese boy replied thoughtfully. "It will take us about...2 hours to get back on track...or we can just take the route that we got into the second bit-beast, which is the same distance. Two options, you choose."

The teen sighed as he was facing yet another choice – one that can effect if he gets Dranzer or not. It was this, or that, and both of them had a 50/50 chance of leading to Dranzer.

"Which route has more bit-beast along its line?" Lee asked, simply curious.

"The new one," Ray replied.

"Does it change much if we go on the new one? I mean...we are planning to go to all of them sooner or later. Does going to the new route change anything?" Kai asked with a frown.

Ray thought for a moment. "Actually...If we use the new route, we'd cover more in less time. Then, we can just curve across the Pacific Ocean and then-"

"Please do NOT remind me how we have to cross so much land. Or water, for that matter." Mariah said firmly.

"Actually, somehow, most of them are in China, and around the same continent. Only 2, or 3, are elsewhere." Ray said suddenly.

"Choice two sounds pretty good." Kai decided.

"Another problem, the girl, she needs to be carried to the next location." Kai reminded.

Tala raised an eyebrow. "Why don't we try to wake her?"

Rei frowned. "That could just make her problem worse."

"Or it could wake her up." Lee reminded.

"I think...we should stick to the safe route first. Get someone carry her to the next location." Mariah informed the two, who both shrugged.

"I don't suppose I have to carry her again?" Kai sighed. He made his way towards the girl, who hasn't moved still.

"I was about to offer, but hey, if you really want to..." Rei joked.

Kai glared. "I could just hand her to you and see how you'd do carrying her across the...whatever distance we have to travel across."

"Uh...second though...why don't you just take care of it?" Rei said nervously as a sweat-drop formed on his temple.

"Well...why don't we get going?" Lee suggested and started to gather up the mats and the rest of the stuff scattered around.

"Sure." Mariah went over and gathered all the stuff she used – bandages, herbs, bowls, cloths, etc.

Tala walked over to where Kai was, beside the unknown girl. "Don't you think we should fill up our water containers? I'm not that familiar with the area beyond here." The crimson haired boy suggested.

"Why don't you tell them?" Kai said as he carefully pulled the mat from under the dark blue haired girl.

Tala looked away. "I'm not quite-"

"Hey, Rei, do me a favor." Kai called as the black haired boy came over. "Gather all the water containers and refill it with the stream water. We'll never know when we come across another source of water."

Rei nodded and went off.

"Now..." Kai sighed deeply and looked at the frail girl.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, eyebrows fluttered. The girl slowly opened her eyes with great effort as her eyesight started to clear up. Piercing green eyes looked with fright at Kai as she fully woken.

**---**

Piercing green eyes widened with surprise and fear as she saw the teen. He had cool grey eyes and blue-grey hair. He also had 4 blue triangular tattoos on his face, 2 on each cheek. His eyes also showed surprise at her waking. His face was almost perfect, as if it was a statue carved by one of the world's finest artists. The surprise in his eyes soon disappeared and was replaced by a neutral look.

"Finally, I see you've woken up." He said with a clear voice.

Behind him was another teen. He, on the other hand, had crimson hair and two strands of hair that fell onto his face. His clear light blue eyes looked at her with curiosity as he raised an eyebrow. Even though the teen looked serious, very serious, a small smile of amusement was tugging at his thin lips. His face was, like Kai's, almost perfectly structured. Mariam blushed slightly, waking up to two guys looking over her.

"Kai, what a coincident, she woke up just in time, I see. Now you don't have to do your job." The teen said to the blue haired teen he called Kai, who shrugged.

"Luck, I guess." He said. "Tala, it's not my job, it's a responsibility no one took, except me.

"Yeah, in other words, your job," The teen named Tala pointed out again. Kai closed his eyes and sighed.

The dark blue haired girl sat up, with less difficulty than last night. "Who...?" She started, her voice coming out scratchy. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Who are you?"

"Kai, Hiwatari Kai." The blue haired teen said with a slight shadow of a smile.

"Ivanov, Tala." The crimson haired teen nodded towards her. "Who are you?"

"I'm..." The girl hesitated. "Mariam." She replied cautiously.

**---**

Kai blinked at the girl's cautiousness. He doesn't blame her. He would have done the same. Turning around, Kai faced the others. "Guys, guess who woke up."

Mariah was quick to accept it and immediately ran over. Lee and Rei, on the other hand, paused a while, letting it sink it. Then, their expressions changed into surprise and they too came over.

"Hi, I'm Mariah." Mariah smiled sweetly and offered her hand. Carefully and closely, Mariah studied the features of the girl. She had dark blue hair that, from the looks of it, was hastily tied into a ponytail. Two pieces of hair hung and framed her pale, heart shaped face. Her dark lips opened slightly and her piercing green eyes widened in surprise.

**---**

"I'm Mariam." Looking at the pink haired girl, Mariam accepted her hand. She nearly gawked at the fangs and amber eyes of the teen.

Two others came over, and Kai and Tala walked out to make room for the two.

"This is my brother, Lee." Mariah said, pointing to a Chinese boy with short ponytail, bandages wrapped on his arms and legs, and a necklace with teal fang-like stones. His eyes were also golden.

"Hi." Lee smiled, showing fangs as well. Mariam blinked. He also had fangs.

"Hello. I'm Rei Kun." The third Chinese came over. He had long black hair that was tied into a long ponytail and amber eyes. He also had a bandana with a yin-yang sign on it. He smiled, showing fangs.

Mariam blinked in surprise. She just met three people that had fangs and yellow eyes. And they said she was strange? _They resemble cats... _Mariam though, amused at the thought of cat people. Quickly, the humorous thought disappeared as she realized she still doesn't know how she got here, or why she was with them.

**---**

"Why am I here?" Mariam asked with a puzzled frown.

"Well..." Mariah cleared her throat. "Kai there," she pointed to the blue haired teen, "and Tala," she pointed to the crimson haired teen, "smelled your blood while we were wandering. Don't ask me how; I'm still trying to figure out that part...anyways. Somehow...somehow...Kai identified it as human blood, so he ran over to see what, or who, left it. Then, we came across you in a forest. We somehow decided in unison that we shouldn't let you die."

Lee nodded, agreeing with his sister. "Then, Kai carried you to here, where we stayed for the past...around day. Mariah here is responsible for the bandages around you and the herbs. She cleaned you up. Then, today, you woke up."

Mariam froze, taking in all that happened. "Oh..." She finally said. She looked down. "Thank you."

"No prob." Mariah smiled at the girl.

Rei cleared his throat.

Kai cocked an eyebrow at the Chinese boy, who shook his head, indicating there's nothing wrong. Still suspicious, Kai looked away.

Soon after Kai looked away, Tala, Mariah and Lee each raised an eyebrow at him.

"WHAT?" Rei threw both his hands up, almost as if he was surrendering. "Why are you raising eyebrows at me? I'm not suspicious of anything!"

An exasperated sigh came from a certain crimson haired teen. "Rei, you just gave yourself away."

"I have to side with Tala on this one." Lee slowly nodded. "What's up?"

"I'm not quite sure yet." Rei confessed.

Rolling her eyes and waving her hand as if to say 'sure, whatever', Mariah turned back to Mariam. "Do you want to come with us on our journey? Well, you're not completely healed...plus, I could use a decent company traveling with those idiots." She said, looking at the guys.

Mariam blinked in surprise. No one had ever wanted her around before without any important reason behind it. "Umm... I'd love to. But what and where exactly are you going and going?"

It was Kai's turn to be uncomfortable. He shuffled his feet and suddenly found his shoes to be very interesting.

"First..." Tala frowned. "Why don't you tell us why we should trust you? How'd you get hurt?"

"Well..." Mariam sighed. "I was hunting for my village. When I got back, people came to attack. I had to run; there was nothing I could do. I wasn't experienced yet. Then, when the fight was over, I went back to the village, but they set up a trap for me to catch my bit-beast-"

"AHA!" Rei declared, receiving curious and suspicious raises of eyebrows. Looking at the expressions given to him, Rei coughed. "Sorry."

"OK, what's wrong?" Tala snarled at the boy.

"Well..." Rei rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't tell you guys earlier because I wasn't sure...I WAS going to tell you about it later, after this talk was over, but-"

"Just say it." Mariah and Lee demanded with the same dangerous voice at the exact same time. Rei could have sworn their eyes turned red for a second.

"Mariam has a sacred bit-beast."

Mariam looked blankly at Rei. "A sacred bit-beast...?"

Kai raised an eyebrow.

(A/N: Today is 'Raise Your Eyebrow' day! Make your eyebrow go up and join the fun!! –Forced grin-)

"You...don't know what it is." Kai said slowly to Mariam, almost with disbelief. He sighed and turned away. Out of nowhere, he just walked away.

Mariah gave a glare at the blue haired teen. She sighed. "A sacred bit-beast...I assume you know what a bit-beast is? Well..."

As Mariah explained, Mariam, found the previous scene amusing; a smile tugged at her lips.

TBC...

**---**

Ryuki: Lame ending – I KNOW! I had to end it somehow! It was there, or the chapter being VERY long. The next event...lets just say it takes a while...and if I stuff that all into this chapter...well, I can guarantee you'd be reading for quite a while. - -;


	8. Chapter 7: Sacred Rabbit

**Tainted** **Blood**

Chapter 7

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

**

* * *

**

"Are you sure you'll be OK?" Mariah asked for what seemed like the millionth time. Mariam smiled.

"Yes, Mariah, I'll be fine." She said patiently. Lee looked at Mariam with amazement.

"I still don't understand how you can be so patient..." He muttered and shook his head. "If it was me, and they asked me that one more time..."

The group has been walking for quite a while now. Despite the fact that Mariam was just horribly injured not long ago, she had no trouble keeping up.

"Hey, guys," Rei called from ahead. "I think I see something."

"Another tree," Kai said lazily. "Amazing discovery, Rei,"

"No, it is a house or a temple of some kind."

Tala perked up. He shielded his face from the sun as he squinted and looked forward. "It's there, alright." He confirmed.

"We can take a rest." Mariah suggested, despite the fact that she was far from tired. This was a breeze compared to her usual chores back at the village.

Moments later, they found themselves at the foot of an old, tattered temple.

"It seems everything we find is tattered." Lee commented and scratched his head. "I'll check it for curses and force shields." He said and turned rightwards to circle the temple.

"He can do that?" Tala asked. Apparently, both Kai and Mariam had the same question, for the puzzled look on their face gave it away.

"Yeah, all the boys from our village had to go through with the monk training." Mariah sighed. "It didn't exactly benefit any of them. Lee, however, had previous training from Grandfather, or elder."

"Safe," Lee called as he reappeared to their left. Seeing no one else wanted to go first, Kai led the group in. The door creaked open slowly.

It was dusty inside, but it was perfectly ordinary and quite well preserved, compared to the outside. It was dark, so they left the door open and opened the windows.

"This is an interesting place." Rei mumbled as he rummaged through the stack of books on ancient arts of magic and wars.

Mariah darted out for a moment and returned with a pouch full of berries. How she got them so fast, we will never know.

Tala opened one of the drawers in the old table and found a dagger. It was silver and had a wolf's head carved onto the handle.

"I guess I'll be keeping this." He muttered and pocketed the weapon.

Kai was looking at the statues. It was a large tall woman with flowing hair. Instead of human ears, hers were rabbit ears. She was frozen in place, hands outstretched, with a necklace dangling off of her fingers. The chain of the necklace was attached to her hand.

Kai leaned in curiously to read the ugly square pendant-like stone on the necklace. It had words carved on it that he could not recognize. Kai reached out and touched the fingertips of the woman.

A sudden urge to touch the necklace spread through his body. It seemed all too familiar.

Then, he realized, this was how he got Black Dranzer. Frowning, Kai thought of the possibility of what would happen if he touched the necklace.

All doubts suddenly evaporated. Kai reached out slowly and his fingertips brushed the surprisingly smooth surface of the stone.

Nothing happened.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kai looked at the pendant once more. Then, it suddenly started to pulse. Deep, ground shaking thuds came from within the stone. The force of the pulses knocked everyone to the ground, with the exception of Mariam and Mariah, who were already sitting.

The pendant started to glow pink, and suddenly, a black started to taint it from the spot Kai's fingers touched the stone.

Kai looked bitterly at the transformation, knowing well what it meant. He, Kai Hiwatari, with the help of Black Dranzer, was tainting the stone. The black suddenly turned blood red, and then back into a soft shade of pink. The stone started to transform. It broke off from the chain.

"Kai, what did you do?" Lee muttered, more to himself than Kai.

Kai didn't reply. The stone has turned into the shape of a rabbit. The stone rabbit suddenly blinked, and it became alive. Its silvery eyes looked straight into Kai's eyes.

It was then; Kai felt the eyes stare into his soul and heart. His eyes widened.

The rabbit cleaned its paws and then its face. It looked at Kai once again. Kai reached out to touch the soft fur of the rabbit.

The rabbit jumped out of the way and ran out the door. Kai paused a moment, before bolting out the door and after it. Mariam suddenly looked up, as if she remembered something. She also ran out.

The rest blinked with surprise, and followed the two.

Kai ran after the rabbit. He didn't know why, it was almost like an instinct. It was then he noticed that the rabbit had a small circle on its back the color of gold.

The rabbit abruptly stopped. Its ears twitched before it turned to see Kai, and Mariam, who just arrived.

"He's a beast of the powers." Mariam said softly. "Worshiped by many, as the follower of an immortal..."

Kai frowned and looked to Mariam.

"It's issuing a quest...a challenge..." She continued.

"Who is going to accept it?" Kai asked her.

Mariam said nothing. She reached for her launcher and her blade. The rabbit blinked innocently at Mariam and hopped towards her. Then suddenly, the same pink light surrounded the rodent. Then, suddenly, the light died, and where the rabbit was spun a blade. In the center, surrounding the bit chip was a thin line of gold. Mariam pulled the ripcord and her own blade spun into action.

Then, Kai understood. A challenge for a beyblade match was what the rabbit was trying to send. And somehow Mariam got the message.

"Sharkrash..." Mariam whispered. Her blade's reaction was fast; immediately the bit-chip started to glow and the blade rammed into the other.

"So...that's the sacred rabbit?" Rei's voice sounded from behind them. Kai turned to see everyone else.

"What else could it be?" Mariah said softly.

"So...Mariam has one, Kai has two, Tala has one, Rei has one... We just found one, which makes 6, and that means we need 16 more." Lee listed out.

"Yeah..." Tala mumbled and frowned, looking at the battle.

It wasn't an easy battle, despite how harmless and adorable the rabbit was. On the battle field, it could be described better with the words aggressive and dangerous. There were gashes in the dirt made by the blade. Mariam didn't seem worried at all. Sharkrash just kept a fast attack on the blade, despite the fact that it wasn't doing much damage.

"Mariam, do you need any...?" Kai began, but Mariam cut him off.

"A quest is to be done alone." She said. Then, at that very moment, the sacred rabbit began to sway from the numerous fast attacks. Clearly, Sharkrash has broken its defence.

"When you first look at her, you wouldn't expect such stubbornness..." Lee scratched his head. "Or such power..."

Sharkrash was beginning to look victorious. The sacred rabbit tried to dodge the attacks as it slid left and right, making skid marks in the ground.

"Now, Sharkrash, finish it off."

Mariam called to her blade. The sacred rabbit seemed to have heard it too – it began to pick up speed. In no time, it had a miniature tornado following it. Sharkrash was circling the rabbit at a fast speed in the direction opposed to its spin, preparing to strike it off course. The rabbit sent its tornado forward, and at that moment, Sharkrash jumped into the middle of the tornado and absorbed its spin. Then, with renewed power, it sent one final blow onto the rabbit, causing it to topple and stop spinning.

"What a unique attack pattern..." Mariah exclaimed. Mariam walked over to the rabbit and picked it up. The blade glowed pink, then black, then scarlet before settling. The bit chip winked. A rabbit in mid-jump was in the middle.

"Does anyone else need this blade?" Mariam smiled, back to her old self. It was almost as if, during the battle, she became another person.

"You defeated it – it's yours to keep." Kai gave her a nod. "But you owe us."

"What do I owe you?" Mariam looked confused.

"Perhaps an explanation would do, like how you knew about the rabbit and maybe something about yourself." Mariah smiled.

"First, let's go back to the temple." Tala suggested.

¤

"My village, as you might have heard earlier, believed in the powers. They are a group of immortals who were said to look after everything. The immortals have visited the village in the past, but no one can confirm, as the last person who saw them died without leaving any note of explanation upon the visit." Mariam began her story. They were back at the temple, either eating Mariah's berries or still exploring nearby while listening to Mariam.

"My village all had bit-beasts of some sort. Everyone had to go into the forest when they were of age, in search of their own match. A year ago, I became of age and with equipment, I wandered alone into the forest. On the first week, I found Sharkrash. When I returned, it turns out that on my second day gone, a group attacked. They were after the many bit-beasts in the forest and in my village.

"After they were gone, there were only a few people left. Then, not long later, they attacked again for what's the left of us. I tried to protect my brother and family, but my mother told me to escape... And then you found me."

Mariam sighed and ate a berry.

"What about the rest of your village?" Kai asked.

"Dead, I suppose...Though I'm sure that at least one of them are alive, but...I know I won't be seeing them." Mariam sighed.

"I'm sure you'll see one of them someday..." Kai mumbled.

Mariah stared at the blue-haired boy for saying a word of comfort for once.

"I mean..." Kai continued. "We're searching for bit-beasts...chances are, another one of your villagers has a sacred one, and mind you, it is pretty hard to destroy a sacred bit-beast." Tala nodded in agreement. Mariah rolled her eyes; should have figured.

"That's true." Mariam agreed as well. "Which sacred beasts do you know of?"

"Well..." Rei spoke up. "Kai's got Dranzer and Dranzer, you've Sharkrash, Tala has Wolborg, I've got Drigger, there's Dragoon, and your rabbit. And then there are, in China, the mouse, the ox, the snake, the horse, the ram, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig. Also, there is the Unicorn, Pegasus, Cerberus, the Hawk, the fox and the deer."

"Is it a monkey or an ape? Because I know someone who has the ape...It's called Vortex Ape...but I doubt it is it, according to the zodiac..." Mariam said thoughtfully.

"Well..." Tala sighed and stood up. "I guess we're spending the night here."

"Yeah," Lee sighed as well. "Let's go hunt."

Lee stood and the two walked out. "I think I'm craving pork tonight."

TBC...

¤

Ryuki: Whee...another chapter done. The bit-beast tracking is getting even confusing for me. X.x Well, I might start writing shorter chapters. Um, which one do you like better? Long or short? Review – or email, I don't care, I need the opinion. :) Um, lets see...if in the past, I spelled Rei's name Ray, sorry, tell me and I'll fix it. I went through all the chapters 4 times to fix the names. First, I thought it was Ray, then I went through to fix it to Rei, than Ray again, and finally, (the last time) I fixed it all to Rei. Urgh, tiring, I know.

To WindWitch: I totally agree with you in the couple thing! Trust me, it's Kai/Mariam...of course, it is my favourite couple. But it might be a while before anything actually HAPPENS...I'm a horrible fluff writer... Also, about the Zeo thing... : ) I've already put the idea in action. Chapter 10... xD thanks very much for the idea.

Anyways. RR! I appreciate it.


	9. Chapter 8: Enter Ren

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 8

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

A/N: Ready for a major skip? My last phrase was _foreshadowing, _a term used for author giving out hints about later on in the book...oh blah, blah, English class...

2. A/N: I'm going to bring in a character from Shaman King. and if you've read my profile, you'll know who it is. Well, if you've seen the English version, forget all you know about him. If you've seen the Japanese version...well, the voice is from the Japanese version, as is the name, and the attitude.

**-**

From Last Chapter...

"Well..." Tala sighed and stood up. "I guess we're spending the night here."

"Yeah," Lee sighed as well. "Let's go hunt."

Lee stood and the two walked out. "I think I'm craving pork tonight."

-

At least a couple of months have passed; not one bothered to keep track of the time. Tala assumed it was around 70 days, but he wasn't sure either. Tala and Lee found the pig bit-beast while hunting, and after a minute or so of discussion, went to Lee. As they were nearing the end of the stream, they found the bit-beast of the water ox, which Kai carried in 'neutral' position; belonging to no one. Since then, there was no sign of any bit-beasts.

Rei wasn't giving any hints. Or rather, his senses weren't. Mariam healed fully in the first few days, which was surprisingly fast, even for someone with a sacred bit-beast.

Now they had 9 bit beasts out of 22, and were nearing the northern parts of China. But that's a guess too. After all, they are basically lost in a very large shopping mall.

"This is the stupidest game ever." Mariah muttered under her breath.

"Mariah," Mariam called and threw her an apple. She took one for herself and plopped down to nibble on it beside Mariah.

"One," Rei said as he picked an apple off of a nearby apple tree.

"Two," Lee said as he bit into an apple that Rei passed him.

"Fizz buzz," Kai said monotonously, accepting an apple and passing it onto Tala.

"Four," Tala yawned, and Kai stuffed the apple in his opened mouth, causing him to struggle to either bite the apple or take it out, but not really doing anything.

"Five," Rei said between mouthfuls of apple.

"Buzz," Lee smiled sympathetically at Tala.

"Seven," Kai said, once again, in monotone.

"Eight," Tala managed to choke out after a while of apple fidgeting. "Screw you, Kai,"

"Buzz," Rei said.

"Ten,"

"Eleven,"

"Buzz,"

"Fizz,"

"Fourteen,"

"Buzz,"

"Sixteen,"

"Seventeen,"

"Ei- uh, Buzz,"

"Nineteen,"

"Twenty,"

"Buzz," Rei sighed.

"Twenty-two," Lee said as he threw his apple core behind him.

"Fizz," Kai frowned. "Shouldn't we start going by now?"

"Buzz," Tala nodded. "We should, but we aren't."

"Twenty-five," Rei stood up and took a few apples with him. "Let's go."

"Twenty-Six," Lee stretched. "Alright, off we go."

Mariah and Mariam both stood as well. "Do you think they'll stop anytime soon?"

"Nope," Mariah replied, exasperated. "They never do."

"Buzz," Kai sighed. "Does anyone else notice that I've got all of Fizz, Buzz, and Fizz Buzz?"

"Twenty-eight, no, I'm too busy trying to remember my times table." Tala replied.

"Twenty-nine, the collection is good, be grateful..." Rei told Kai.

"Fizz Buzz," Lee smiled. "We're at thirty, for once."

"Fizz," Kai frowned again. "Does anyone realize that from thirty to thirty-nine will all be Fizz and Fizz Buzz?"

"Fizz," Tala scratched his head. "This will get annoying, because we'll lose track of which number we're actually at."

"Fizz Buzz," Rei thought for a moment. "Yeah, it will be quite annoying."

"OK, great, annoying game...can we stop playing?" Mariah smiled brightly.

All four guys looked at Mariah with dull expressions. Kai sighed, Tala shrugged, Rei opened his mouth when Lee said, in spite of Mariah, "No."

Mariah thwacked her brother on the side of his head. He merrily shook his head, as if he was a bobble-head doll being thwacked.

Mariam smiled at that. "I had a little brother..."

"And it's sort of pathetic that my older brother can serve as my little brother." Mariah sighed. "What was his name?"

"Is," Mariah corrected. "He's still alive. So are all my other friends from the village. We all left for the quest. His name is Joseph."

"With green hair and sharp teeth," Kai said suddenly.

"Yes," Mariam looked at Kai. "Why?"

"I think I knew him from somewhere," Kai frowned.

A question rose to all of their minds, and a worried expression appeared on Mariah's face. Kai sighed, expecting this.

"No, I didn't kill him." Kai assured them, as if he was talking about stepping on someone's foot, and not killing a person. "I think I met him in a forest somewhere when I woke up."

Rei suddenly froze, as he always did when his senses told him something.

"What is it?" Lee asked, frowning.

"One of them... It's... coming towards here at a fairly quick speed!" Rei said, surprised.

Kai looked around. They were in an orchard of some sort, like in a rich person's garden. Except this one wasn't carefully taken care of. Fallen leaves were on the ground. He squinted into the distance.

"Is that...a fence?" He asked no one in particular. Everyone turned and Mariah squinted.

"Yeah, it is..." She whispered.

"If the thing is coming towards us, then...they wouldn't be able to cross the fence." Lee nodded.

Tala started to run towards the fence. Everyone else followed, thinking of the same thing. They reached the fence and looked through. In the distance was a large castle-like classic Chinese tower. It was owned, probably, by a rich person. Despite it was in the afternoon, the whole of the tower was covered in shadows.

"I'm going to climb it." Rei decided. Everyone agreed and all put away the stuff they were holding. With Lee leading, they made their way up the fence.

"There are spikes at the top." Lee announced from ahead. Kai frowned.

"Can you climb over them in any way?" Kai called up.

"If I stand on the highest square possible, but I can't...It's too shaky." Lee called back. Soon enough, everyone else has also reached the top. Kai looked around and down. He took of his backpack and dropped it over the other side, after taking out his beyblades and putting them in his pockets. The others followed suit.

"Alright, now that we're all here, it's less shaky. However, there's a possibility that all of us will fall. Let's just hope that this fence was installed properly..." Kai muttered. "I'll go first. If it seems dangerous, climb down."

He reached as high as he could go and swung his leg over the side. He winced as one of the spikes poked into his knees. As soon as he reached the other side, the others started to climb over, with Mariah last, because she was the lightest.

When the reached the ground, they all grabbed their bags and started to walk towards the building. But before they got far, they heard...

Footsteps...

No, it was the sound of hooves against the earth.

Then, as soon as it began, it stopped. Rei looked up suddenly and his hand unconsciously fell to his launcher secured at his waist. Everyone paused to look at him.

Lee opened his mouth to speak, when someone interrupted.

"No one invited you... do reveal why you are here."

Kai frowned as the voice seemed familiar. Cold, heartless, monotonous...yet this time, he heard emotion in it. Kai whipped his head around to look at the figure.

He was partially covered in shadows, and a large piece of his hair stuck up from his head. He wore a cape and held a large weapon. He stood on a large horse with rolling, golden eyes.

"Ren," Kai recognized immediately. The last time he saw him was years ago, before the bit-beast incident, at one of his Grandfather's parties for all the high ranked families across the world.

"You know my name," the figure, Ren, frowned and aimed his weapon at Kai. The blade was dead straight at Kai's head. He nudged his horse closer as he stepped out of the darker shadow. His golden eyes shone. "Where do you know my name from?"

"Hello, Ren Tao, a long time no see." Kai said smoothly. "It has been nearly ten years, I believe,"

Ren squinted at Kai, and then his lips curved into a smirk. "Ah, Kai Hiwatari,"

"I am going to assume you two know each other?" Tala cocked an eyebrow.

"Right is your assumption." Ren informed Tala. "And you are...?"

"Tala Ivanov," Tala stated simply.

"I believe my father knew yours," Ren thought for a few seconds. "Sergei Ivanov...Defence Minister of Russia, correct?"

Tala nodded sharply.

"You're father's Sergei Ivanov?" Kai asked, mildly surprised. "No wonder your last name seemed familiar."

Mariah, Lee, Rei and Mariam stared at the three.

"Who are they?" Ren motioned towards the four.

"I'm Mariah," Mariah smiled slightly.

"Lee," Lee merely said.

"Rei Kun," Rei nodded at him.

"I'm Mariam." Mariam said while continuing to stare politely.

"Great, now that we're all friends, let us go in." Ren beckoned and nudged his horse into a slow walk towards the tower. "My father will be surprised. We do not get visitors often, mostly because of the number of guard dogs. But I assume you never met them? They're actually quite friendly." His voice always seemed to be slightly sarcastic and mocking.

Mariah raised a pink eyebrow. "Sure," She said, not knowing what else to say.

"Two sacred bit-beasts," Rei whispered to Kai as they walked down a dark hallway. Kai nodded.

"The -"

"Yeah,"

TBC...

**-**

Ryuki: And another chapter for all you happy souls. Sorry for the update delays...my internet went down for quite a while... I read Phantom of the Opera, original version. It is an awesome book, though it doesn't quite match the song. I mean, it sort of does, but the song makes it seem more romantic. - -;; sort of...

Anyways...thanks for all who reviewed, and keep reviewing. It gives me a happy self-esteem boost. : )

Also, note to Niall: Screw you. x.X. If you don't appreciate my corny fanfiction writing, then don't read it! It's enough I put up with you every day...V.V along with the rest of the idiots...


	10. Chapter 9: Zeo's Awakening

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 8

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

A/N: If there are mistakes in this chapters, gomen ...Microsoft Word suddenly decided that high lighting the word and pressing backspace shouldn't be enough to delete the word. And high lighting the word and typing a new word apparently doesn't delete the old word either. At the rate I type, I don't usually notice it. So, please tell me the mistake, and I'll correct it.

Also, Ren's horse's name was not made up. It's all in the show. Gohuku Seitai Gojyoto and Gohuku Seitai Yonjyoto are two of the lowest of the five strongest zombies in the Tao family.

**-**

From Last Chapter...

"Two sacred bit-beasts," Rei whispered to Kai as they walked down a dark hallway. Kai nodded.

"The -"

"Yeah,"

-

"You still have not answered my first question." Ren said after a while of silence. "Why are you here?"

Almost everyone jumped. Even though they were used to interruptions after periods of silence, the dark hallways, echoing footsteps and haunting whispered around corners does take its toll on people.

"Actually," Tala said conversationally, a surprising thing, since he always seemed to be slightly alert and tense. "We wandered in."

"We're searching for the sacred bit-beasts," Kai revealed. "Or the golden spirits as you know it."

"Which ones are you looking for?" Ren asked without turning around.

"All of them." Lee answered. "Rei here sensed some in this direction, so we wandered in."

"I assume you've got Voltaire's,"

"Yeah," Kai answered quietly.

"I see."

Mariah, Mariam, Lee and Rei exchanged looks.

"And do you want the ones in my possession?" Ren asked, once again disrupting the silence.

"Not as much as I would like Dranzer," Kai replied. "We don't want the other bit-beasts much, except as assistance."

Ren gave a small chuckle that sounded like a sneer. "I shall think about it."

It wasn't until several minutes later; the others realized that Ren's horse was no longer with them.

-

"Ah... this is really good!"

Mariam smiled brightly as she took a bite of the strange-looking English desert. Ren peered at her from the corner of his eyes, uninterested, as he sipped his tea. Dinner was finished and everyone was satisfied. Those who didn't choose to make themselves resemble turkeys were eating desert.

"It's called... a cupcake." Ren said, in his usual bored voice.

Mariam looked at her food, interested. "A cup-cake...is it made in cups?"

"Who knows," Ren shrugged.

"I shouldn't have eaten that last bowl..." Lee groaned.

"Serves you right for eating so much," Mariah glared at her brother as she stuffed a spoonful of ice-cream into her mouth.

"When was the last time we ate like this?" Rei asked.

"You mean, when was the last time we ate food this good? Or when was the last time you guys ate like pigs?" Kai raised an eyebrow at Rei.

"Good question," Tala hiccupped very loudly. "Ah _shit_..."

Mariah, Mariam, Lee and Rei all gave a snort of laughter. The corner of Kai's mouth twitched. Ren still looked bored.

"Tell me about your horse."

Ren looked at Kai, and then looked up to his ceiling. "His name is Hakuoh. And the spirit you want is Kakuoh, Bason's _'pet horse'_."

At then, Bason, Ren's spirit, made a small sound of protest. Mariah smiled. "Kakuoh is the horse spirit, right?"

Suddenly, the door burst open.

"What do you want?" Ren said immediately, without turning around to see who it was. "Jun?"

"Papa finished his new project," She said, "He's also equipped it."

"Jun," Kai frowned, "your sister?" He motioned towards the tall, slim girl with green hair. Some of her hair stuck up, like Ren's.

"One of them," Ren shrugged. "He's equipped it too? How does he know that it's strong enough?"

"Because he managed to kill Gohuku Seitai Gojyoto and Gohuku Seitai Yonjyoto with the practice weapon," Jun said darkly.

Ren looked mildly surprised. He sighed and stood up. "I suppose he requires my presence?"

"Why else would I come?" Jun nodded. "Your friends..."

"They are all coming with me." Ren said shortly and motioned for everyone to follow. They all exchanged looks, and followed Ren, not wanting to get lost in the long, dark hallways.

"What is this project?" Kai asked as everyone struggled to catch up with Jun without running.

"_Roboto_..." Ren muttered. "Humanized robot with...extraordinary powers..."

"Instead of using Zombies," Jun finished for Ren. "But this one...prototype, with artificial 'human' brainwaves,"

"Wonderful, army of robots..." Lee muttered to Rei.

"Be grateful they don't use zombies," Rei whispered back.

"We're not planning to attack you." Ren said from ahead, somehow overhearing the conversation.

"We know, it just that those two..." Mariah glared at them. "Terrified of inhuman things, unless it's a bit-beast,"

Rei and Lee opened their mouths to protest, but Tala smirked. "It's OK, you don't have to hide it anymore..." He mocked.

"Shut up," the two Chinese boys growled.

They stopped and Jun knocked the large door. "Papa, it's us," she called.

"Come in," replied the voice.

The door groaned as it was opened. Jun led them into a surprisingly light room. It was filled with machineries. There was also a large capsule-shaped glass case filled with liquid. In it was a boy. He had turquoise hair and wires attached to his head.

Tala froze as he faced the case. He looked away quickly and took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" Mariah asked.

"N-nothing..." Tala whispered.

"Hello,"

An old, thin man with a mustache and spiky hair emerged. Ren nodded to him with respect. "Hello father,"

Jun turned to the others. "This is our father,"

"I am En Tao," The man said as his beady eyes scanned the group. His eyes fell on Kai. "Hiwatari," He whispered. "You have the..."

Kai nodded.

En eyed him for a few seconds more before turning to the glass case. "Ren, remember him?"

Ren nodded. "I made his instinct chip,"

"Very nicely made, though it did take you fairly long," En rested his hand on the glass. "I've put him back to increase his humanity by a bit more."

"Wow," Mariam breathed. "He doesn't need air?"

"No, he does," Tala mumbled. "It's oxygen liquid."

Kai raised an eyebrow at Tala.

"Don't ask," Tala frowned.

Then, suddenly, the machine beeped loudly and a feminine voice said, "Process finished. Prepare to drain oxygen liquid. Waiting for further commands."

"Please drain the liquid." En spoke.

"Command accepted. Processing..."

The liquid began to leak away. The wires fell off of the boy's head and he fell against the glass case.

"Drainage complete," the voice said, and another beep sounded.

The boy in the glass case started to cough out liquid and gulping deep breaths of air. His eyes opened slowly. His eyes were the same colour as his hair. The glass case tipped open, and a curtain fell over him. Minutes later, he emerged, fully dressed. His eyes were wide and he looked around.

"Hello," En said.

The boy looked at En. Suddenly, his blank expression turned into a small smile. "Hello,"

The smile remained on his face as he turned to see everyone in the room. He also grabbed his own hair to see it would come off. It was almost as if he was memory-less, except he knew every thing a person would need to.

"What is his name?" Rei turned to ask En.

"He is...Zeo."

"Zeo," The boy repeated. "I am Zeo."

TBC...

-

Ryuki: Here's another chapter. Hope you liked it. And to WindWitch – Here's Zeo for you. It's AU, but this whole story is AU, no? Zeo is actually, now I realized, going to help my plot. Thanks again for a great idea.


	11. Chapter 10: Decision and Split

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 10

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

A/N: Skiing is the best! And surprisingly, in all my life, this is the first time I've gone skiing...wow...

Special notes to: Shiorisama (thanks for your compliment and have fun on brat-always-day-and-night , KagomeHigurashi66, some person (Virtual Sacrifice...well, I've got writer's block for that. Max might come later, other saint shields...maybe), WindWitch (Right on!great guess...thanks for the review and compliments!), youkiaofdaunderworld, ShadedRogue (Yeah, Ren is really grr! lol... fizz buzz is a kiddie number game...its actually surprisingly hard. thanks for the reviews and compliments), native-kitten, Jennchow (yes they do. lol), catseye77, ERALDA, monarch (the 'part' was basically they agreeingso well they dont need to speak of what they're agreeing on. thanks for the review and compliment!), Blackdranzergurl, and everyone else that I have not mentioned. Sorry if I dont mention you... but love to you all!

¤

From Last Chapter...

"What is his name?" Rei turned to ask En.

"He is...Zeo."

"Zeo," The boy repeated. "I am Zeo."

¤

"Zeo..."

Mariah repeated slowly, carving it into her mind.

"Yes?" Zeo looked towards Mariah. "That is me."

"He's a fast register." Ren nodded with approval. "What is he equipped with?"

"One of the animal spirits, the three headed dog to be exact. Like the ones you have. Kakuoh and the dogs," En replied.

"The puppies you raised, you mean?" Jun smiled mischievously, poking fun at Ren.

Ren scowled. ("Now you know how _I_ feel," Bason muttered.) "I wouldn't call them puppies. They have the ability to tear out your neck if you –"

"Ren, Jun, do try to get along once in a while." En said airily.

Zeo looked from Ren to Jun. His eyes stopped on Jun. He tipped his head slightly. "You are Jun," He turned slowly to Ren, "and you are Ren?"

Jun and Ren nodded silently. Jun was more enthusiastic than Ren, who looked ready to kill everyone, hop on his Harley, and ride off.

"I'm Mariam," Mariam smiled slightly.

"I'm Mariah," Mariah chirped. "This is my brother Lee, and this is Rei." She motioned to Rei and Lee, who both nodded in turn.

"Tala Ivanov," Tala said with an unblinkingly stare to Zeo.

"Hiwatariy Kai," Kai nodded.

"Mariam, Mariah, Lee, Rei, Tala, Kai..." Zeo turned to each of them, as if taking a mental picture, in which cases he might as well as be doing. After all, no one really knows what's inside the human robot, except En, who merely stood, judging his performance.

"Hello," Zeo said at last with a bright smile. "I am Zeo. Nice to meet you all,"

"I think you over did the 'good-natured-ness', Pa," Ren cocked an eyebrow at Zeo's smiling face.

¤

"Hold on, Ren,"

Ren turned as he was about to leave. En made his way towards him.

"What is it?"

"We agreed, you are responsible for training Zeo to the world," En reminded him.

"I remember," Ren muttered.

"Good, just in case, you know," En gave a small smile and waved his hand to dismiss his son.

¤

"Have you made up your mind about coming yet?"

Ren opened his eyes to find Rei, sitting right beside him. He scowled – he barely heard a sound, except the door once, which he thought was just Bason. This guy was stealthy.

"Have you heard of not creeping in silently and interrupting a person in meditation that can kill?"

Rei smiled. "No I haven't, thanks for the tip." His smile faded. "We're going to go tomorrow at noon, and we'd like it if you joined us. Especially Tala...He's felt really out of place until he got here." The smile lit back on. "Plus...it's nice to have another cold, I-don't-care killer in the group."

"I have not made a decision." Ren merely replied. "I have told Kai I would think about it.

"For all you know, we could be across the world by the time you decide." Rei pointed out.

"In which case you won't be," Ren nodded slowly.

"True..." Rei scratched his chin. "But come on, it'll be fun,"

At that moment, Tala, Mariam, Mariah, Lee and Kai all came in.

"What is this, a musical?" Ren said sarcastically after a moment of silence where everyone looked at each other and tried not to seem awkward. The timing was just too perfect.

"It is kind of weird we all showed up at the same time," Mariah laughed. "Just to confirm, this 'meet' wasn't planned." She assured the scowling Ren.

"So, are you going to come?" Lee asked.

"I shall tell you by then," Ren closed his eyes in attempt to return to his meditation state.

"Hey, I just thought of something," Lee piped up.

"Why don't Zeo and Ren both come along?" Mariah interrupted.

"Thanks for interrupting AND taking my glory," Lee scowled. Mariah smiled apologetically.

Ren opened one eye. He frowned in thought. _I did promise Pa that I would 'train' Zeo to the real world..._

"I will tell you later," Ren repeated. "I wish to be alone,"

Mariam rolled her eyes at his attitude. "I wish to be alone," She did an exaggerated mimic and shook her head as everyone made their way out.

As soon as the door closed, Bason popped up.

"What do you say, Bason?" Ren turned towards his ghost, who was frowning in thought. Ren sighed. "A trip across China and perhaps the world... We've not experienced such adventure since years ago, during the Shaman tournament." He watched as Bason weighed the choices.

"You can take your pet horse and pet dogs," Ren smirked – one of the first out of him.

Bason scowled at the mention of the animals as being his 'pets'.

"Zeo will come along as well, no?" Bason questioned. To that, Ren nodded.

"I would like to take this little trip," Bason concluded. "And see this new creation of your father's."

"Yes, I do too. I cannot believe that I am looking forward to being with those idiots." Ren lied down on the mat he was meditating on and gazed towards the ceiling.

Bason was in silent agreement as he unconsciously petted one of the ghost dogs that floated in.

¤

"Who thinks he's going to come?" Lee announced to everyone as they repacked some of the stuff they took out for the night.

"I think he's going to," Kai replied.

"Really?" Mariah asked with surprise. "He doesn't seem like it."

"Tala wouldn't seem like one to come, but he did," Rei pointed out, oblivious to Tala's glare.

"That's true." Mariam agreed.

"We'll know when he tells us." Tala said.

"I guess," Mariam shrugged.

"So how many bit beasts left, including Ren's?" Rei asked, avoiding the awkwardness.

"11, only," Kai replied. "I've been thinking about the situation..."

"As you always are," Lee nodded.

"I think we should split up and try to cover more area." Kai said.

Rei looked surprised. "How are the groups going to work?"

"Well," Kai ran a hand through his hair. "You've mentioned a few bit beasts across the world, right?"

"Yes," Rei replied.

"I was thinking that we can use one of Ren's planes to fly across the Atlantic, and to Europe, where you guessed it was." Kai explained.

Mariah looked at Rei. "It's actually quite an idea. Like how we found the dragon... well, across China, the bit beasts are obviously in different villages and shrines. The second group could stay and find those."

Lee frowned. "How would the others know where in Europe to find them?"

"I've got a few contacts, and quite a few guesses." Kai closed his eyes.

"Same," Tala agreed. "The ones with the family treasures, right?

Kai nodded.

"I don't want to go back to Russia though," Tala frowned.

"Why not?" Mariam asked.

"Personal issues," Tala mumbled.

"Let's go now, I think that's Jun calling." Lee said, and they all rose to leave.

¤

"I like the idea."

Now they were 2 companions more than they were before, along with a horse that snorted loudly, a ghost that you could actually talk to, several ghost dogs that followed them around, and occasionally, a three headed dog freaked everyone out.

Ren said as he heard Kai's plan. "It would me you, Tala, Zeo and I to Europe, however. Surely, the European leaders' children would not allow these friends of yours in. They're too stuck up."

"Sounds like it," Mariam mumbled.

"But we know the phoenix is out of China," Rei said.

"We do?" Mariah, Mariam, Lee, Kai, Ren and Bason asked.

"You do now." Rei smiled guiltily. "That's really why we started this trip, right?"

"Yeah," Kai nodded. "To help me get rid of my problem,"

"Which will be tonight," Zeo said, out of the blues.

Kai turned slowly to look at Zeo. "How do you know?"

"Lunar calendar..." He said quietly with a small smile.

"When is he going to get over the initial stage?" Ren said in gritted teeth to Bason.

"Soon," Bason sighed.

Lee froze. "Wait, I just remembered something..."

Everyone raised their eyebrows.

"The Chinese festival is coming soon," Lee snapped his fingers. "I can't believe I forgot!"

"Oh!" Mariah and Rei shook their head with disappointment at themselves. "I cannot believe I forgot either! Elder will be angry..." Rei laughed.

"What's the festival?" Kai asked.

"Do the honours, Ren," Rei smiled at Ren's look of revolt.

"I must warn I'm a horrible storyteller." Ren mumbled. "In the past, there was this poet who lived. However, he somehow fell into a pond and the people were afraid that the big fishes in the pond would eat him, so they dropped these packages of sticky-rice with either meat or red-bean-paste in it. They wanted the fish to eat the packages instead of the person. Though I'm not sure why they didn't worry about him drowning."

"I guess that's close enough," Rei shrugged. "But the important thing is the holiday symbolizes reunited people. Meaning, the most powerful villages of China will be gathering. Meaning, the bit beasts of China will almost definitely be there."

Kai nodded with a small frown. "Which means Rei can come with us, while we trust Mariah and Lee to persuade the other villages. Or at least do a little spying for when we get back."

"Doesn't your father force you to join the festivities?" Ren asked Rei.

"No," Rei shook his head. "I'm not the son of the Elder. Though I'm surprised you are not going."

"Does my father seem festival-happy?" Ren sneered.

"So I guess that is it." Mariam nodded. "Does Zeo want to stay or come with us?"

Zeo blinked. "I would...like to stay to see this festival, if you do not mind, and if it is not too much trouble." He said politely. Mariah shrugged at Lee.

"I don't see why not." Lee smiled.

"OK, so Lee, Zeo and I will stay in China to do a little investigating, while Ren, Rei, Kai, Mariam, Tala, and the ghosts go to Europe and North America." Mariah ticked off on her fingers.

"I need to seal your dogs into a beyblade." Mariam said loudly and spontaneously.

"Why?" Ren looked at Mariam and surprisingly, he smiled.

"They don't seem to want to let go of my pants," Mariam snarled. The dogs were chewing on her pant leg, while she tried to prevent her pants from falling down and walk at the same time.

"Gladly," Ren replied. "You can seal Kakuoh too, if Bason doesn't mind. But you cannot seal Bason."

"No, I don't intend to. He doesn't chew on me." Mariam glared at the horse, who was trying to chew on her hair.

Mariah giggled and dragged the horse away from Mariam's hair.

"I guess we have our plans set out for us." Ren sighed. "Back to the mansion we go."

¤

Ryuki: Well, another chapter. Sorry everyone who likes Zeo, Mariah and Lee. I like those three...but I have to let them go for a while. And the holiday, it's real, as is the story, although not much accurate. Any fellow Chinese people want to correct me? I think I read it somewhere in a book, years ago... The holiday is ... er, mid-autumn day? Zuen Chiu Jie, I think...meh, well, I guess now they're in autumn.

Review!


	12. Chapter 11: Robert and Chinese Festival

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 11

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

A/N: March it is. Skiing is getting out of control, as I am going down the mountain WAY too fast. Well, I guess I'm sticking to the yellow sticker. x)

¤

From The Last Chapter...

"No, I don't intend to. He doesn't chew on me." Mariam glared at the horse, who was trying to chew on her hair.

"It could just be because you are very attractive," Kai said dully, looking at the animals. "To non-human things, that is."

Mariah giggled and dragged the horse away from Mariam's hair.

"I guess we have our plans set out for us." Ren sighed. "Back to the mansion we go."

¤

"It's been a while..." Tala stretched in his luxurious velvet seat and yawned.

"Speaking of which, why were you out in the woods when we found you, and not with your family?" Ren asked, sipping green tea. "You are the son of the –"

"Ren, I'm done with the sealing," Mariam interrupted from the other room as she walked in with two small bit-chips. Ren nodded and pulled out two beyblades of the finest kind and allowed Mariam to fit the chip onto the blades.

"So where are we going first?" Mariam asked as she took her seat beside Kai and twiddled with the blades. "Russia? Italy? France? England?"

"You'll see, but I'm not stopping over grandfathers. Somehow, I know he knows exactly where I am with this trip," Kai replied.

"Germany, Italy, Scotland, France," Ren listed off. "Major royalties, and England, but I doubt they'll accept us in. Maybe Portugal and Spain, and Switzerland..."

"Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Norway..." Rei added.

"We need to visit Greece," Tala supplied. "They have a wide map of mythology, many including sacred powers."

"I'm certain that France, German, and Greece will have bit beasts. The ones we need to look out for are the Pegasus, Unicorn, Griffon, Deer, Fox and Cerberus –"

"- The one that Zeo has –"

"- yes, the one that Zeo has. We've got the Shark and Wolf." Kai finished.

"No one is going to forget the Black Dranzer, I assume," Tala added.

"I say we go to German first." Mariam declared.

"Robert's in German," Rei commented. "He has Griffolyon. Oliver's in France and he has Unicolyon. Greece...I don't know."

"Pegasus, drawing the sun and moon chariots. Lampos, Phaethon, one of them is the one that we want." Kai said knowledgably.

"After the trip around Europe, where are we going?" Mariam asked, resembling a child.

Kai looked at Ren, who looked at Tala, who looked at Rei, who looked innocently at the ceiling.

"North America," Kai decided.

"Max is there, in America," Rei smiled.

Kai sighed as he remembered the death of Tyson. "Tonight... We must land somewhere tonight. I have to prey on some innocent soul."

"What if our sacred bit-beasts are all around you? Would that control you?" Mariam asked.

"I don't know. Until a while back, the only person I knew that had a sacred bit-beast was me." Kai muttered as he closed his eyes.

"Maybe we should give it a shot," Rei shrugged. "It could work."

Kai frowned. "No, I am so used to this routine...I will be fine."

Ren nodded. "It is your decision. Bason, go check what our closest European country is."

Bason popped up and disappeared for a few moments before flying back. "Russia."

Tala's eyes darkened immediately.

"Ren, I must say, by the end of the day, we'll be closer to Germany." Bason added.

Some colour came back to Tala's face, but he frowned. "How does that work?"

"Ask the pilot," Bason shrugged.

"How fast... are we flying?" Kai asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bason sweat-dropped and gave a sighed. "Who knows?"

(A/N: Wow, for the first time, I've been able to raise my one eyebrow! Congratulations to me!)

¤

After a short snack, everyone filed off and onto the grounds of the Germany government house. They had arranged for Robert, a purple haired teen and the heir to the 'throne', to meet them. He looked as serious as every as he saw the 5 of them.

"Kai, Ren, Rei, Tala," He acknowledged the four boys that he knew. "Who is this girl?"

"Mariam," She introduced herself with a firm look on her face to show she wasn't threatened by his power. He nodded with respect to her.

"I have heard your name, but from where I do not remember." Robert said. "Mariam, who possesses the Shark,"

"Sure," Mariam was slightly puzzled. "If you want to call me that,"

"I am assuming you arrived here for a purpose?" Robert eyed the five.

Kai nodded. "Do not be threatened, but we're here to discuss about your family possession."

"The Griffolyon, do you mean?" Robert frowned. "I insist you stay for tonight."

"Robert, I must warn you," Kai frowned. "I have the Black-"

"I realize." He replied curtly.

Mariam shook her head. _Does everyone nowadays?_

¤

Meanwhile...

¤

"Is this what it is like every year?" Zeo asked, awed by the excitement and the people. Everyone was excited. It didn't hurt that he could understand Chinese, along with every other language.

"Yes," Mariah smiled. "Those are my distant cousins... and that's my mother's family there... there's the village my aunt married into..." She looked around and pointed to various people.

"Mariah, I think I know who has the rat, sheep, rooster and pig... and I suspect that Elder knows where the golden Monkey is...Mariah, are you listening?"

"Yes I am, Lee, good for you. Now we only need the snake...wow, is that it?"

"It is," Zeo confirmed.

"Great! Wait until Kai and the others hear this..." Mariah grinned.

"And I will be telling them," Lee scowled. "Since you did nothing to help anyways,"

"Sure, Lee," Mariah waved at her older brother.

"Have a dumpling, Zeo," Elder almost appeared out of nowhere. He held a bundle. "It is sticky rice and red bean paste." Elder said warmly. "I am sure you will enjoy it."

Zeo blinked and thanked Elder politely with a smile in mandarin.

"You are welcome, Zeo," Elder replied and almost immediately, he was gone.

"Zeo, can you eat?" Mariah asked.

"Yes," Zeo replied. "Although I am artificial, I am a humanized robot to the core, meaning I have the proper organs, except I do not depend on them. I have a life chip instead of a brain."

Lee and Mariah blinked, not knowing what to say.

"This is really good," Zeo said happily as he bit into the sticky rice. Mariah and Lee both sighed in exasperation and went off to look for the snake and confirm where the monkey was.

¤

A/N: Short chapter, I know, but I wanted to get it out soon. It's a bit suspicious every time there's a holiday; all my reviewers are on vacation elsewhere without a source of internet. It's depressing how I got one review for my previous chapter. Much thanks to KagomeHigurashi66, for reviewing and for making my evening when no one else did. VV Review this time please. It keeps me going. And wow, I'm getting baptised! Time really flies...


	13. Chapter 12: Someone Who Understood

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 12

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

A/N: Sorry for slow updates from now on, but I'm starting my original fiction, and I'm trying new styles of writing and characters and such.

¤

From Last Time...

"This is really good," Zeo said happily as he bit into the sticky rice. Mariah and Lee both sighed in exasperation and went off to look for the snake and confirm where the monkey was.

¤

In China

¤

Lee sighed contently, filled with various delicious Chinese foods and delicacy, one of which being jellyfish. He shivered, remembering that he ate jelly fish...but hey, they were good. _I'll just pretend that the plate of food isn't jellyfish, instead some sea...vegetable...that was packaged in a bag of jellyfish..._

Zeo, on the other hand, wasn't having food troubles. He was, in fact, having the time of his very short life in enjoying new foods and meeting new people.

The festivities were nothing special, if you actually think about it. Families gather together and... Talk and eat. There are decorations that make it _seem_ much more than it is.

Mariah was weaving quickly between people to meet Lee every 10 minutes on a new report for their bit-beast search. So far, the snake is nowhere in sight. The elder was nowhere to be found either.

"Why don't we ask the other village's children when they arrive in your house for the alternative meeting for younger people?" Zeo asked as he stuffed another piece of who-cares-what (it _is_ food) in his mouth. "They will surely know of something."

"Zeo, you're brilliant... why didn't you suggest that earlier so I could have saved the trouble of running around!" Mariah looked exasperated, while Zeo shrugged as he munched on his food.

"The 'children' meeting is in our house!" Lee nearly screeched. "Where everyone drew over the walls and dumped clothes in toilets?"

"I thought it was a civilized world," Zeo remarked.

"As did I, before I met those kids. Zeo, you better run before they taint your mind with horrid pranks and jokes..." Mariah joked and led both Lee and Zeo into her house. "Come on, Lee, they're all pretty mature now, some are older than us. Just because you refused to trash the clothes and clog the toilets a few years ago, it doesn't mean everyone's going to revenge on you by clogging your toilet with your clothes."

"Still, I say we hide the clothes," Lee grumbled. "And make them use the next door's toilet,"

Mariah sighed. "We'll hide the clothes, and everything else valuable that they might stick down a pipe. But they can't just be kicked next door to use the toilet."

"Why?" Zeo asked.

"Think of the 200 cans of pop we got rid of last year," Mariah told him hastily.

Zeo blinked... 200 pop cans?

¤

Meanwhile...

¤

As the five arrived at Robert's mansion, they were given 3 rooms for that night. According to Robert, there was a ball that night and many guests were staying over for the night. Otherwise, they would have each gotten their own room. They were also told to get fitted for proper clothes, like tuxedos and gowns, much to everyone's horror.

"Thank god I get to miss it," Kai muttered.

"I will stay in a room alone," Ren announced immediately. His looks said 'argue and have your head off'.

"O...K... Ren is being selfish," Mariam nodded. "So, who's sharing with whom? I'm not sharing with anyone who snores or kicks."

"I can assure you none of us snore or kick..." Tala told her.

"Why don't Mariam and I share a room, considering I will not be here for the night at all? It would be as if she had a room to herself," Kai suggested.

"So, I guess we're roomies," Rei grinned at a scowling Tala.

"Forgive me for not jumping for joy," Tala said in a voice resembling Scar's from Lion King.

A shut of door told the four that Ren was not to be bothered.

"OK, I guess that's all... there's only 3 more hours to sunset," Kai sighed.

"We shall retire to our room," Rei said in a voice mocking Ren's. "Good day, beware of your necks."

Tala rolled his eyes and followed.

Mariam gave a small chuckle of amusement at the two's act. Kai shook his head and opened the door to their room. It was fairly large, but there was only one bed. It was a large fluffy bed that was in very homey colours. The closet was white, but the room was painted light lavender that was so close to white, it's easily mistaken for it. The carpet was fluffy as well. Mariam dropped her bag off beside the bed and went into the washroom. It was large and very stylishly decorated. There were scented stuff all around, and a large tub with brass knobs. There was also a small shower stall. The carpet was, again, very fluffy and dried roses were sprinkled around.

Mariam sighed and took in the scent of the dried flowers and herbs. She wandered back out and spotted Kai, nearly invisible, on the bed horizontally, his legs draping over the side. Mariam walked over and jumped on beside him. She literally sank into the bed.

"So," Mariam said after a while.

"So?" Kai's muffle reply came back.

"Tell me about yourself." Mariam propped her head on her hands. "We've never properly introduced ourselves, you know," Mariam said thoughtfully.

"Hello, I'm Kai Hiwatari and I am possessed by a black phoenix. How was your day?"

Mariam gave him a shove for mocking her. "Seriously,"

"Seriously...?" Kai sighed deeply and was silent for a while before he replied. "I don't know anything about myself anymore..."

"That's not possible. You know enough about yourself to not know anything about yourself." Mariam frowned. "For a start,"

"I know that I'm Kai... I know that I've got Black Dranzer in my blood, and I know I have to find Dranzer, and all the other bit-beasts in order for something amazing to happen. But I don't know what it is and whether it is beneficial or not. I don't know my favourite colour, or animal, or plant..."

Mariam's eyes softened. "You don't pay any attention to yourself?"

"There's no time..." Kai said softly. "There's never enough time... even if I wanted to tell someone something... anything... there's no time... it's always too late..."

"You've got almost 3 hours."

"But I can't... the pieces are too small... there are no reasons..."

_Broken this fragile thing now_

_And I can't; I can't pick up the pieces_

_I've thrown my words all around_

_And I can't; I can't give you a reason_

_I feel so broken up_

_And I'd give up_

_I just want to tell you so you know_

_Here I go,_

_Scream my lungs out_

_To try to get to you_

_You are my only one_

_I let go_

_There's just no one_

_That gets me like you do_

_You are my only; my only one_

"Remember the first day you woke up?" Kai said quietly after a period of silence.

"Yes,"

"Someone who understood,"

Mariam was silent. _Someone who understood?_

¤

A/N: And I'm going to end it at that. Unplanned, the tiny teaspoons of sugar are added in. I might be going insane, I'll let you know if I start going to the mental institute. ; I hope you guys liked this chapter. The italics are lyrics that I was just listening to – Only One by Yellowcard. It seemed to fit, suddenly, so I put it in. It could be because it's 2:20 in the morning right now. (When I wrote this)So anyways... R+R! Please... x)


	14. Chapter 13: The Dance

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 13

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

A/N: Joy to the world, I have updated, and clothes have been flushed down the toilet. The little gathering thing is an excuse to put down some of the things that happened in church, with the 'younger than adults' group (teens) and our testimonies. It's funnier than you'd expect... but I'm sorry I can't capture the humour of the moment. If you're in no mood for stupid side stories, skip the first giant chunk of paragraph.

¤

From Last Time...

"Remember the first day you woke up?" Kai said quietly after a period of silence.

"Yes,"

"Someone who understood,"

Mariam was silent. _Someone who understood?_

¤

In China

¤

The meeting wasn't as bad as Lee thought it would be. The kids were, in fact, more mature than their last visit. In fact, they've been through a lot. A foreigner would expect these Chinese kids to be village brats that are dirty and rugged, but over 90 percent of the families here have moved into more of a city surrounding.

They lived life like everyone else. And they shared their life like everyone else.

"And I just kept walking, for hours and hours... but not walking as in anger, but I was walking and thinking about everything. About life, about death, and I blamed everyone for the mistakes. I was bitter of why some people would get a better family than me. But my dad... he just expected so much, and... Oh god, 99 percent average... he reads those Chinese newsletters about the talented people...

"I said to myself, like, if nobody wants me to live, then I wont, right? I vowed to myself that I'd jump down the moment I come to a bridge. So I just kept walking straight, and I came to a bridge. It was a pretty tall one, and I looked down, and this is it. I could hear music from the day I went to church, and I could almost feel him walking beside me and telling me not to make a big mistake like that..." The speaker was close to tears. "But everything's OK, because he's always there, and because of that, everything will be OK."

·

Around the room, voices of support rose. It was a small room, and there were only around 10 people.

"So you ran away from home?" One of the less mature and more trouble making boys grinned. "I remember I did that, once, or rather 3 times,"

"For fun?" Zeo frowned. "Why so?"

"Well, my mom threw a flower vase at my head." He replied.

"The third time, what about the other two?" Zeo asked, curious.

"The other two weren't really running away. I got put into a foster home on the third one, and it was really cold outside, and I had on like, a t-shirt." The guy said almost in a bragging voice.

"That is to be proud of?" Zeo questioned.

"No...But my thing was pretty serious. So I told my mum I'll go back as soon as she buys a house, so she did. So I went back. They even filed like one of those things, like one of those suitcase things,"

Silence cast its webs upon the audience. Everyone was thinking of the same question... _suitcase?_

It wasn't until Lee, whose mouth was full, spoke up. "You mean a _law suit?_"

¤

Meanwhile...

¤

Kai and Mariam didn't talk since then. Kai left silently after an hour or so towards the nearby woods. A kind-faced woman came in with a racket of dresses and gowns. Mariam's mouth dropped open at the grandness of it all.

"I was sent by Robert to help you get a dress," The woman said in a light German accent.

"Oh, OK," Mariam stuttered. What else do you say in this situation?

"Dear, you have gorgeous green eyes, maybe we should try to bring it out like, with a dark green, perhaps," The woman took a long heavy forest-green dress with many folds and held it to Mariam. She frowned. "No, not this, not this one,"

"Perhaps a red dress would do," She muttered to herself, rummaging through the racks. Mariam sighed. Now she's got a nice lady (who you cannot yell at) who talks to herself.

After a good chunk of an hour, Tala and Rei, who had been done their fitting and were both bored, wandered into Mariam's room to help her and her self-talking 'stylist' to pick out a dress or gown.

"I liked the red one, but it was too..." Rei waved his hands around, almost as if hoping to catch the word.

"Yes, I get what you mean," The woman nodded. "What about the blue?"

"I like the dark blue one a lot," Tala motioned towards the blue one. Kodak moments – Tala picking out a gown. "It's very light..."

"Yes, that one's much better," Rei agreed.

Mariam's eyebrow twitched. The guys were conversing happily, discussing how colours go together, while Mariam hasn't talked since the very beginning. Now, it is so true when they say that men enjoy fashion. Look at these two...

The scene would be funny if you just walked in. There was Mariam, on one site, reading a book while trying not to be bored. There was also Tala and Rei, who were both nodding at the kind-faced plump lady with a large dress, feeling the material and making suggestions.

_Tala I don't care, but if Rei's gay... wow, poor Mariam, _Mariam thought, amused.

¤

Finally, after a long debate, they picked out the dark blue one that wasn't too heavy or traditional and was comfortable. Or at least it was according to the lady, Tala and Rei. It was very humorous to see Lee and Tala in tuxedos, too bad Ren wasn't planning on attending. The woman also gave her a mask, saying it was necessary for her to have it, and a clutch, one of those little purses.

"Are you guys scared?" Mariam swallowed hard.

"Kind of," Rei admitted. "There are world-famous people out there,"

"I'm used to it." Tala said curtly.

"What if you trip on your dress and like, fall on your face in front of everyone?" Mariam said in a tight voice.

"Mariam, we're not wearing dresses," Tala assured her, and received a glare in return.

"OK, I'm going to leave you two at this table, and I have to go meet my father." Robert announced and helped Mariam get into her seat. He then walked away.

Soon enough, people started to file in by the dozen. In no time, the big hall was filled, but not to the point where you are in 5-meter-range from anyone you don't want to be.

"Wonderful music, _c'est__ vrai?_" One of the French girls smiled from the next table over. She looked, in fact, made for these situations with her wisps golden hair and a turquoise gown. She had on a butterfly mask that covered her eyes, which she took off.

"Remind me what year it is," Mariam grumbled. Rei smiled with sympathy.

"Do you two know how to dance?" Tala asked Mariam and Rei.

Mariam blinked. "Oh crap..."

"_Qu'est que c'est?_ Crap?" The French girl questioned.

"I am going to die," Mariam buried her face in her hands.

"Don't worry;_ c'est simple_, you get into position, and the men will lead you." The French girl shrugged. "I show you,"

And somehow, no one knows how, she was immediately surrounded by teens in tuxes, not including Tala and Rei.

"Watch," she put her left hand on the other guy's right shoulder and her right hand held onto his left. They walked up to the dance floor and danced a flourish twirl, toes and everything. Mariam watched them with disbelief. _The guy leads all that?_

The two came back and the girl shooed the guy off. "By the way, _je__ suis_ Mimette." The girl said with a smile as she sat back down. "_Il n'est pas bon..._" She motioned towards the guy. "Too stiff,"

Rei blinked and gulped. "I better stay here tonight," he said hastily. "Maybe just the last one..."

"I better stay here too," Mariam nodded. "I can't dance, and just to keep you company."

"_Oh, non! C'est stupide! _Mariam, is it? L_es garçon_ will ask you to dance, of course," Mimette exclaimed in her oh-so-French-and-graceful way.

"I'll just say no. Would they buy it if I told them I didn't speak English?" Mariam asked.

"Oh, that will be a problem; most of the people here know at least 10 languages, so you might have them around for even longer. Mariam, why not try?" Mimette replied with a shrug. "Just make sure, whenever you are on the dance floor, to have your mask on."

Mariam sighed and as she looked around, she spotted Tala asking a black haired girl in a red gown to dance. She turned to Rei, who was gulping down another glass of Champaign.

_Oh boy, this should be fun,_ Mariam thought dully as she sank back into her chair. _Kai better be grateful._

¤

It was approximately 2 hours after sunset now and almost everyone had gotten giddy from drinking. The band was sweating like crazy trying to play fast songs. As Mimette said, a few people asked Mariam to dance, and she turned them all down.

"Don't be too much of a spoil sport," Rei mumbled.

"Gee, coming from someone like you, that means a lot," Mariam retorted.

Mimette was busy dancing on the stage, and Tala was gone again, dancing with another girl but with blond hair and a light blue gown.

"I'm going to the washroom," Mariam sighed and stood up.

It took her a while to find the washroom, which was on the other side of the dance floor. Inside the washroom was very clean and pink. The mirrors had borders and the sink knobs were crystal clear. She put some cold water on her hands and splashed her face with it to keep her awake, in the least. She tried to ignore the many people speaking in Italian in the stalls to what she hoped was the cell phones.

After she dried off her face, she tried to slither her way back to the other side, where her table was, and Rei was watching her, amused at her attempts to push through.

The song slowed dramatically as she slithered through, making her very conspicuous. Just as she was about to get off the stage, she nearly ran into a teen just a bit taller than her. She muttered an apology and started past, but he sidestepped her. He held out a white gloved hand. Mariam blinked. "No, I'd rather not..." She started, but before she knew it, she was back into the middle of the dance floor. "What are you -?"

"We're waiting for the Last Waltz," He whispered.

"Excuse me?" Mariam was overwhelmed as she felt herself twirling on the dance floor. No, she didn't know how to dance, but somehow as Mimette said, it was easy. "Who are you?"

"You know," He replied.

Mariam frowned. The only people she knew with golden eyes were Lee, Mariah and Rei. Rei was at his table, and Mariah and Lee were in China.

"Do I really know you?"

"Unless you have forgotten,"

Mariam frowned. _Who was he?_

"Come with me,"

¤

A/N: - -; Wow, this is Cheesy. I had it better pictured in my mind. Well anyways... thanks for everyone who reviewed! xD Hope you liked the chapter. Next chapter featuring a song by The Rasmus. xD


	15. Chapter 14: Masked Stranger

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 14

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: O-bla-di, O-bla-da, life goes on, bra, o-o-ooh, how life goes on... Is that how it goes? Meh... Enjoy the chap.

* * *

BTW, thanks for all the reviews! xD I luff you guys... also, Max's going to make his appearance after the European trip. Gomen nasaii to lilshadowangel, but I learned his name Rei Kun. - -; I'll watch for that in future chapters. But excuse me if I miss one! Old habits die hard. Thanks for your compliments though. thanks to everyone who reviewed. xD

¤

It was dark outside in the garden. A nearby light was the only thing that illuminated the fountain and the tiles on the ground. The full moon was there, too, shining its silvery light. But despite that, Mariam could barely see anything, only the colourful grey of the surrounding.

"We're waiting for the last waltz," He murmured again.

_What did he mean?_

Mariam looked at the stranger guiding her in his arms. The fountain trickled like music, a gentle three beat rhythm. It's so soothing, and yet, she felt like something wasn't right.

·

_Make me blind_

_Cover my eyes_

_You can do what you want_

_I'm paralyzed by the perfect mood_

_When we're dancing with blindfolds on_

_You make it easy to love you and hate you_

_I can't explain it, I feel insecure_

_Say it simple: "You die just to live again."_

_You say we're waiting for the waltz_

·

Mariam looked away from the golden eyes of the stranger and into the fountain, where she could see herself in a graceful twirl, except she didn't feel it. It was as if watching someone else on the other side of the clear liquid.

It was romantic. Of course it was... not every day you get a tall stranger with golden eyes inviting you to a perfect dance.

But she still didn't know anything. Who was this stranger? Mariam closed her eyes. She didn't want to dance, yet she did. She didn't want to feel that pang of fear in her stomach, but she did. Who was this stranger? And why was she dreading something terrible?

The stranger was gentle with his lead and was very solid. His golden eye glistened.

We're waiting for the last waltz.

A voice rang in her mind, an echo through the night. What was the last waltz?

·

_Another you and me_

_Another revolutionary heavenly romance_

_Waiting for the last waltz_

_And so it seems_

_We won't find the solution_

_Confusion leads the dance_

_We're waiting for the last waltz_

·

The clock chimed 1:00 am. The stranger's eyes darkened into the colour of wine, of blood, as he suddenly froze. No longer could Mariam hear the music of the fountain, or see the colours of the grey. Her fear increased as his eyes shone with red, and death.

He whispered goodbye, "We're waiting for the last waltz."

And he disappeared into the forest.

Mariam sat, trying to calm her beating heart. _Why am I so afraid?_

Moments after moments, hours after hours, chimes after chimes, dances after dances. Mariam sat and watch the girl on the other side of the fountain. The girl with midnight blue hair, piercing green eyes, dark blue dress and a calm expression who looked back at her. _Tomorrow, _Mariam told herself, _it will be worth it_..._when we get the bit-beast... I hope._

It was starting to get chilly, and the dance has ended. She wandered back into her room and let the window open. She changed into the night gowns they had given her, and sat back down beside the window.

A roar of pain rose from the forest.

Mariam felt her heart squeeze at the sound of suffering. _Kai_...

And as she thought of such a name, a blue-haired figure staggered through the door. Mariam turned to see Kai collapse on the ground, covered in scratches, gashes and what appeared to be teeth marks. She frowned and rushed over. It was over already? But it was only...

The clock showed 4:30 am.

Kai's arm twitched with pain. He opened his eyes and Mariam saw a tinge of red before it faded into grey. "I missed... the last waltz..." He said in a voice that wasn't his. His hands opened to reveal a piece of Rei's shirt. "So close... I was so close..."

·

_Praise the wine  
__So divine  
__And it stings like a rose  
__Allow the night to flow inside  
__Open the window and let the wind blow  
__Highlight of the night is the unhappy ending  
__You keep refusing to answer my calls  
__Drop the bending and stop the pretending  
__You say get ready for the last waltz_

_Another you and me  
__Another revolutionary heavenly romance  
__Waiting for the last waltz  
__And so it seems  
__We won't find the solution  
__Confusion leads the dance  
__We're waiting for the last waltz_

·

Last dance... Rei was going to dance the last dance...

The last dance... a waltz... since it originated in Germany...

Why didn't I piece it together?

¤

A/N: Ooooh, drama, dun-dun-dun... xD Will Rei be alive? Actually, you decide. It may not change the ending though...

Bwahahaha!

Hope you liked the chapter. Review please!


	16. Chapter 15: Aftereffects

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 15

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

* * *

A/N: One of my poems was chosen for Urban Voices... Yay...

Here's another chapter, enjoy.

¤

Kai awoke with a startle, drenched in cold sweat. He felt his injuries complain, but ignored them, as he learned to do since this whole fiasco started.

He could remember it so vividly. The way that his hand stung when it touched Black Dranzer... and how the darkness spread from his fingertips into his heart...

Kai looked around the room. He saw Mariam on the bed, barely visible. He looked down and saw that he had been cleaned of his cuts and covered with a blanket. There was a pillow under where his head used to be too. He was on the heavily carpeted ground, as he soon realized. But the difference was little – the carpet enough seems like a bed.

His eyes softened. He looked at the piece of cloth so tightly gripped in his hand. _I can't do this anymore... I almost killed Rei... Even though he has a sacred bit-beast, chances are, he's not going to bring it EVERYWHERE with him..._

_I need to..._

Kai fought to get up. He limped towards the door and frowned as he passed Mariam.

_What do I need to do? What if she was next?_

Slowly, Kai reached the door, and he opened it with a light click that was barely audible. But as he was about to slip through, Mariam's eyes opened slowly.

"Where are you going?" She murmured.

Kai froze. He took a deep, shaky breath. "Washroom, I'll be right back."

Mariam nodded and turned the other way to go back to sleep.

With darkened eyes, Kai left, closing the door as softly as he opened it.

¤

"No pancakes! I am sick of pancakes!"

Rei glared at Tala. "When was the last time you HAD pancakes?"

"I don't eat pancakes, period." Tala grumbled.

Rei peered at his menu, a phone in his hands. "What about cake?"

"...Cake for breakfast?"

"OK, OK, what about coffee and muffins?"

"Sure..." Tala sighed. _Better than pancakes..._

"I'm still going to get pancakes. I love maple syrup! Whoever invented it is brilliant." Rei said firmly, his eyes sparking.

"Native peoples taught the Europeans of North America to make it." Tala mumbled as he fished through the mini-fridge in their room for a cold bottle of water.

Rei shook his head and dialled a number and ordered their breakfast.

Around 3 minutes after he ordered, a continuous knock came from the doors. Tala was pleased. He gulped down water. "Good service," He commented. Rei grunted, walked towards the door and scratched his head. His hair was surprisingly neat for the morning.

The knocking turned into pounding.

Rei walked faster towards the door and swung it open. Mariam stood there, her eyes looked serious and she was frowning.

"Is there something –?"

"I ... I can't find Kai." She whispered.

¤

"He came for you yesterday," Mariam said as she sat on Rei's bed. Rei and Tala both faced her, sitting on Tala's bed, waiting for the story.

"I know," Rei said simply.

"Dangerous," Tala muttered.

"It's my fault I didn't have my bit-beast. I just thought that nothing would happen, and plus, it didn't fit in the pocket." Rei frowned. "When was the last time you saw Kai?"

"He stumbled in a few hours after midnight... I cleaned up his worst injuries and went to bed. Then..." Mariam's frown deepened. "I saw him for a few seconds this moment. He said he was going to the washroom..."

"The idiot was probably guilty for nearly killing Rei,"

The three turned to see Ren in the doorway, dressed ready for fight and cleaned. Rei looked at the clock nearby. It was 7:00 in the morning. It reminded him of those people who get into suits the moment they wake up.

"Probably," Tala nodded in agreement. "Should we look for him?"

"Yes,"

"No,"

Mariam glared at Ren. "Why shouldn't we?"

"He'll turn up. He knows that the whole thing is more important than Rei. He knows that finding Dranzer will cure this all... even if it means sacrificing one of his best friends." He nodded towards Rei.

"What if he's out to kill himself?" Mariam demanded.

"Kai wouldn't do that." Rei said with confidence.

"That's weak," Tala nodded. "He knows it... running from a mistake?"

"And also, he cannot kill himself," Ren added. "Black Dranzer finally found a decent host. Do you think it would really let the host kill himself?"

"I don't know," Mariam grumbled.

Someone knocked.

"Come in," Ren called.

The door opened. Mariam turned and closed her eyes with a small smile.

"Hey," Rei greeted.

It was Kai, dressed in room-service uniforms, wheeling a cart with several trays on it. It was their breakfast.

"Consider this an apology," Kai said as he started passing the dishes out.

"Idiot," Mariam mumbled.

"I deserved that," Kai passed her a plate.

"Pancakes..." Tala wrinkled his nose and peered over to Rei's plate. He had muffins and coffee. They looked at each other with raised eyebrows and switched plates.

Ren walked over with a chair and took a plate with bacon and eggs on it. He started to eat without a word, a smug look on his face, just for Mariam.

Kai sat down in a chair he brought and started on his own food. He barely finished one of the pancakes when the door opened.

"Master Robert wishes to see you," A man dressed in butler clothing bowed at them. "In 20 minutes, at the grand meeting room, he expects all your presence."

"We'll be there." Tala mumbled and shoved a forkful of eggs in his mouth. "Soon..."

¤

A/N: Heya... another chapter. It's kind of useless... Rei's OK, obviously. I mean, why would I kill one of the most important characters in the fic before they get to America? Anyways... hope you liked it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. xD


	17. Chapter 16: Enter Enrique and Oliver

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 16

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: And another chapter. Wow, this has got to be the furthest I've EVER gotten... in writing, I mean. O.O I have a twelve chaptered story, but that's like, shit. Plus, that was my first story, so it's really bad. Hm, I hope I'm not boring all of you readers to death!

* * *

"Master Robert, our guests have arrived."

"Let them in,"

Rei's ears twitched as he picked up the few sentences from the other room. He frowned. Was Robert going to let them take the bit-beast and go? Or was he going to come with them? Or, the worst of all... what if he won't give the bit-beast to them?

Those were the questions on everyone's minds as the door creaked open and the butler motioned for them to follow him.

"Welcome, sit," Those were the first words that left Robert's mouth as they entered the room.

"Tea, coffee, pop... what would you all like?"

Kai, Ren and Tala asked for tea. Rei and Mariam took water, just to be polite, in case Robert decides to be offended by not taking a drink. Who knew about these rich people?

Not a word was spoken until the butler brought their drinks on a silver tray. Mariam peered at Ren's stony face, to Tala's frowning one, to Kai's unreadable expression, and finally to Rei's curious gaze. She looked at Robert, who was sipping his tea, carefree. She sighed with frustration.

Almost as if he read her mind, Kai cleared his throat.

"About the bit-beast..."

"I've been thinking." Robert put down his cup. "Your purpose is righteous, and it is necessary. About last night, it is a relief that no damage was done."

"If you can call it that," Ren said simply. His voice showed no hint of emotions. However, everyone knew the deep impact of those few words. Everyone was surprised by the boldness, especially Rei, who seems almost as if he forgot about the incident until now.

"I cannot control what I do." Kai said darkly.

"We are not blaming you," Tala frowned.

"I could not remember what I did last night..." Kai said quietly. "At all..."

Mariam felt her face turn red. _I can... if that was you..._

"But about the bit-beast," She spoke up before it got too far. Suddenly, all eyes were on her. She froze. "Um,"

"What did you conclude from your considering?" Rei asked, sensing her nervousness.

Robert stood with the same dignified look. However, he had a smile on. At that moment, the butler came in with a velvet case. Robert walked over and took the blade out. He then walked to Kai and held it out. "You may 'borrow' it, for the time being. It is my family's possession, after all, but I don't think my ancestors would mind that I lend it out for a good cause."

"Besides, they're dead. I get to run now." He said with a menacing look in his eyes. "No offence to them, of course. I will not be coming along, for I have a country to run."

Rei smiled.

"Thank you," Kai said genuinely.

"Don't mention it." Robert replied. "Tala, I do have something to ask of you though."

Tala froze; his tea cup almost to his mouth.

"Your father sent me several messages, saying if you ever turned up -"

"If he calls again, say that I'm dead." Tala said with dark humour that only seemed to amuse him.

¤

"So, where now?"

It was late in the afternoon and they had just departed from Robert's.

"Does anyone else feel that this is all way to simple?" Tala suddenly spoke up.

"Yes," Ren agreed at once. "But don't complain. Be grateful for the easy parts and when the hard parts come, you can bitch about it.

"Where do we go now?" Mariam repeated.

"France or Greece - make your choice." Kai shrugged.

"In other words, really nice yet girlish guy who can cook versus long-named people with good stories..." Rei added with a grin.

Mariam never had to make the choice though. Just then, Kai's cell phone rang from deep, deep within his bag in a small hidden pocket. The ringing surprised all of them, Kai the most.

"I thought I left my cell phone on the plane that abandoned me in China." He grumbled and snapped it open. "Hello, Kai Hiwatariy speaking."

"Hi Kai, how's it going?"

"Ah, it's Oliver." Ren said with a touch of gloom. "He's always free, isn't he?"

"I'm guessing Robert called you?" Kai spoke into the phone.

"Yes," they could hear a faint voice from the phone. "I've already prepared you a place, and all the places you MUST come to that I added to France, and of course, I'm thinking about the bit-beast thing. Don't you worry though, I'm debating with my sisters about it, and it's all going fine. Of course, I heard you have a girl on the plane. I've got a great restaurant I need her to test out, because in the guarantee, whichever guy takes his girl to the restaurant will impress her so much that, well, you get it. So, all the girls here flatter me too much."

Then they heard another voice.

"I wonder if she's cute... hey, can I talk to Rei? Reeeeeii? Is she cute? Huh? Kai... let me talk to Rei... fine, fine, never mind."

"He sure talks a lot..." Mariam remarked with a sweat-drop.

"He's...social." Tala managed to choke out.

"_In touch with his feminine side_," Rei reworded, "he prefers to call it that."

"Straight as a toothpick though..." Ren added. "Enrique must be there too. I'm not so sure about him though,"

"They're popular with the ladies... I'm still wondering how." Tala sighed. "Oliver's getting more talkative too... it's becoming un-bearable – big mouths mixed with cold air-conditioning."

Mariam raised an eyebrow as Enrique continued to talk, along with Oliver.

"Is she hot? Well, that doesn't really matter. When are you getting here? I'm getting impatient..." Enrique ranted on.

"Oh, and it's really hot in France right now. I know Ren has air conditioners resembling nuclear warheads in there, but I suggest you NOT wear sweats out here." Oliver's voice interrupted.

"We're in wine season, so get ready to be tipsy... oh, no, wait, that's a few hours later. Anyways...I want to show you the training arena I made. I think you'll like it, but I don't know. Kai? Kai? Alright, I'll stop bothering you. Bye... hey, bye everyone!" Enrique chirped, and a beep told them he hung up.

"Bye guys! See you soon!" Oliver hung up as well.

Kai closed his eyes and shut his cell phone. "I need Advil."

¤

Well equipped with Advil, water, sunglasses and stress balls, the five arrived, to find the green-haired and blond-haired teens. The two were wearing more high-classed clothing, while the four (not Ren) dressed in what Enrique called tourist clothes. The five nearly gagged over the blast of thick, hot humidity that hit them when the exited the plane.

"Hi guys!" Oliver greeted. His eyes shone brightly. Beside him, Enrique had the same dreamy look he always did, and he also had a lipstick print on his face.

"Hey." Enrique waved.

Mariam gulped down water that she brought. "It feels like a sauna here..."

"I did warn you." Oliver laughed. "I'm Oliver, nice to meet you."

"I'm Enrique. And who might you be?" Enrique hastily wiped the red off his cheek.

"Mariam," The blue-haired girl started to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Enrique, lay off, she'll murder you." Rei joked. "She's like Mariah..."

Enrique shuttered. "She is one sharp cat, that Mariah."

"This girl's a shark." Tala informed him.

"Oh, a shark... which reminds me, we should be getting to the restaurant." Oliver brightened. He pressed a button on his watch and in no time, a limousine came rolling in.

"Ladies first," Enrique winked at Mariam.

"I wouldn't flirt with her if I were you." Tala muttered under his breath. "She's taken."

"By whom, may I ask?" Enrique flashed a smile. "Who is this someone more charming than me?"

Tala turned his gaze to Kai, who held the door open as Mariam slid in.

"HIM!" Enrique nearly screeched.

Everyone turned to stare at him, including some Korean tourists nearby.

"Sorry, replaying a break-up in my mind." Enrique grinned slyly.

"Are you sure? He's ... he's a frozen rock!" Enrique hissed. "Although he does have that aura of complete..." Enrique's eyes narrowed as he thought of a word to replace sexy. After all, he was a straight guy... and he intended to squish all the rumours of him being gay. Starting to call other men sexy would seem a bit conspicuous. Hey, at least he was honest. _I've got to stop hanging around the girls..._

"We get it." Ren said flatly as he butted into the conversation. "They don't know it yet... can't you tell?"

"Oh," Enrique blinked. "OH... _that_ way... OK, I'll leave her alone then. The thing you can't have is the thing you want... too bad."

"If you don't bug off, they might both murder you." Tala smirked.

"Think of that..." Enrique winced. "A shark and a phoenix, both out to get me..."

"Are we going or not?" Mariam snapped, cranky of all the heat.

In no time, the limo was driving off.

¤

A/N: Whoot, chapter. Oh yeah, who's good? Anyways... this should be fun, a few days with Enrique and Oliver. Those two can be hilarious... don't mind their minor OOCness. It is an AU story, after all. ;D Next chapter, I'll try to fit in some events in China.


	18. Chapter 17: Restaurant and Alcohol

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 17

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Yeah, mum set the kitchen on fire. Now my instant noodles are ruined. The cupboards are black. - -; thank god it wasn't a big fire. Ah, imagine that...

* * *

"Air conditioner..." Rei sighed with content, and made a sound that resembled purring, which the restaurant assistant manager scowled at.

"Ah, let it go Lars," Oliver waved off his assistant manager. "Prepare us the specialty we've been working on."

"Yes sir," Lars muttered and shot an evil glare at everyone before walking off, shouting at minors.

"Don't mind him," Enrique put his hands behind his head. "He's bitter than Oliver's still better at him at everything. He came from alower family... something about injustice..." He shrugged. "Stereotypical guy, he is, thinking the poor will be successful and the rich are dumb."

"What are the appetizers, I'm getting hungry." Tala mumbled.

"Manners," Oliver scolded with a big grin: very unconvincing.

"Garlic bread-sticks," Enrique revealed with a flourish as the waiter came.

"Oh, yippee..." Tala said sarcastically as he shoved two in his mouth.

"If you want to impress girls," Mariam put a breadstick into her mouth. "Make sure the time between appetizers and first course isn't longer than 5 minutes or so. Trust me, you don't want the girl eating the breadsticks and then not wanting to eat anything else."

"Why would they do that?" Kai shook his head. "Totally idiotic..." He turned to Enrique. "Reminds me of you,"

"Oh, don't be so flattering." Enrique winked. Kai shuttered.

"Enrique, when we said you could not hit on Mariam, it does not mean you have to start hitting on Kai." Ren stated simply and quietly so that only Enrique, Rei and Tala heard. After those words reached their ears, Rei and Tala nearly snorted bits of chewed-up breadstick onto the heavy white table-cloth.

Enrique took the insult easily.

"You should have made it clear earlier." Enrique grinned jokingly. Ren cocked an eyebrow at him.

_This guy reflects insults... well, that's a first._

"Hear that, Lars?" Oliver shouted at Lars in a tone of voice none of them had heardhim use. "5 minutes or less, that's how long between appetizers and first course! And it is 5 minutes or _less_, not more!"

"Yes, Mister Oliver," Lars's voice came back.

Within a few moments, a waiter came, balancing 7 soups on his platter. The soup bowls were small, but the soup looked really good. It was a thick broth.

After they were half-way through the second course, the waiter came, snatched up their food, and put down 7 plates of shrimps.

And when they were barely done that, the waiter snatched that up, and came up with 7 plates of pieces of sea-bass, salmon and creamy mushroom.

That was barely nibbled upon, before the fourth course came, with Foie Gras and wine, and apple pieces as decorations. But before they could really dig in, the fifth course came, with creamed spinach, potatoes and beef, and blue cheese with spaghetti that nobody touched. They had around 4 minutes to eat as much as they could, before they came to the last course before desert. A plate of chicken stir-fry and sauce was placed before them. Following the hasty schedule as usual, they came to desert in less than 6 minutes.

"OK, that's it," Mariam slapped her fork down as the waiter came with desert. "Why give us a big plate of food and then snatch it away? Honestly, a girl would feel insulted that her food was being exchanged under her nose in lightning pace. Give smaller servings and a nice amount of time to actually _put into our mouths."_

Oliver calmly turned to the waiter. "Tell Lars to stop hurrying everyone in order to ruin our meal. And do NOT snatch the desert away. Go, and come back when I call."

The desert was cheese, red wine, fruits with chocolate and caramel dip and a small 'cup' of ice-cream.

"The food was good," Ren frowned. "Your assistant manager, however, needs to be fired."

"The food was good," Rei agreed. "And your assistant manager needs to be fired."

"I just said that," Ren growled.

"Yep, yep," Rei waved Ren off.

"Is he drunk?" Tala stared with amazement.

"Naw, Chinese wine is the strongest in the world. He can't get drunk off of that low stuff." Ren shook his head. "He should be used to strong alcohol."

"But he's not used to Russian or perhaps French alcohol." Mariam pointed out.

"Well," Enrique scratched his head. "See, I kind of, uh,"

"Spiked the already alcoholic wine?" Oliver guessed. "I told you not to do that."

"It was so tempting..." Enrique grinned slyly. "I just wanted to see who got the wine."

"I bet you were hoping Me, Ren or Mariam." Kai sneered. "Nice try. Max tried to spike my punch once."

"Good times," Rei slurred and dropped like a rock off of his chair and face first into the ground.

"What happened?" Mariam smiled with amusement.

"I dumped it on his head." Kai merely said and took a sip of his ice wine.

"Well that's fun." Oliver sighed. "Typically you... I'd like to see you drunk."

"Or High," Enrique pitched in.

"He'll probably kill you while he's drunk or high." Tala gave a small laugh. "Lack of self-control means red face and knife."

"Hah," Ren smirked. "That'll be the day."

"I'm not red-faced and angered when I'm drunk and/or high." Kai growled.

"Ooh, how do you know?" Mariam challenged.

"Experience...?" Enrique waggled his eyebrows.

"Kai... high and drunk...?" Ren raised an eyebrow and tried to picture it.

"I cannot see it, personally." Oliver tapped his chin.

"How about we try and see?" Tala smirked.

"I will not drop so low to the stage where you can test me for my reply." Kai growled.

"I'd like to see it too." Mariam grinned evilly. "Come on, Kai..."

"No," Kai said firmly.

"Why not, are you afraid?" Mariam teased.

"Do I look scared?" Kai said with a blank expression; the same one he's been wearing throughout the conversation.

"Just a tad," Rei mumbled from the ground. Everyone looked at him, and as if to prove he was still drunk, he gave a loud snort before snoozing away.

"Vodka or Chinese?" Kai held out his hand.

¤

A/N: And yes, Kai gets drunk. Can't wait until next chapter... xD might be a bit disappointing. Of course Kai has self control... he'll never get _too_ wild... And mind you, it's the first time I've done a chapter without switching scenes. I've got no inspirationt to switch to Zeo, Lee and Mariah, but I'll do it soon. I swear!


	19. Chapter 18: Aftereffects and Suicidal Re...

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 18

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Watch Kai get drunk. xDD

Congrats to KagomeHigurashi66 for being the 100th reviewer... (Gives her Inu plush)

Congrats to odd-12345 (luff your name!) for being the first reviewer after 100.

Wow, I can't believe I got to 100 reviews... I can't believe I have 19 chapters... o.O Anyhoot. Happy Victoria Day!

Notes to:

ShadedRogue – er, just to save you the trouble of looking back (its annoying... don't worry 'bout it) Lee, Mariah and Zeo are in China for the gathering (back in October) so they can find the bit-beasts easier. They've split so they can get more work done.

Lunar Fire – it's OK, I can always get more noodles. x) Why don't you like Lee and co? T.T they're awesome characters... just a bit unfamiliar for me to write with. o.o;;;

* * *

"How many shots was that?"

"25," Kai said before he dumped the clear, alcoholic content of the next shot into his mouth.

"Wow, 25 shots of vodka... I can't believe you lasted that long." Oliver looked amazed. "At least without getting drunk,"

"I told you, I don't get drunk." Kai growled and scratched his wrist.

"How about 5 more, I'll give you 2000 francs." Enrique pulled out a wad.

Kai snorted. "I don't want your francs."

Enrique looked amused. "Alright, 15 more, and you get Oliver's bit-beast for your trip."

Oliver nodded slowly. "I was going to give it to-"

Enrique hissed at Oliver to be quiet.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Alright, if you're willing," He had his hands around his wrist and sat there as if waiting for a lecture to be over.

Enrique looked delighted. "Lars, 15 more shots,"

Lars grunted. In a few moments, someone brought many little shot-glasses and a bottle.

Kai eyed the glasses lazily. "Honestly, you're acting like my grandfather when he gets drunk."

"How is that?" Ren asked.

"He makes me get drunk too," Kai mumbled and gulped down two glasses.

"Is that where you get experience from?" Tala smirked.

"I don't know, is it?" Kai asked after dumping the small glasses of alcohol into his mouth like water.

"You're not even slurring yet," Oliver blinked. "If it were me, I'd be dead."

"Oliver," Kai said and took another shot. "You drink rich red wine that's supposed to help 90-year-old women against heart disease."

"I haven't drunk anything alcoholic since..." Mariam frowned. "Before they came to my village," She poured herself a small glass and slowly drank it.

"Are we all getting drunk?" Enrique grinned. "Excellent," He somehow appeared with small bottles. He popped off the cork of one of them and drank.

"Er, no thanks," Tala looked disgusted at the idea.

"I'm like Kai," Ren shook his head. "Have fun getting me drunk."

"Oh we will," Enrique laughed. Getting giddy...?

"How many more to go...?" Oliver asked.

Kai shrugged. "I drank all the things they gave me." He answered and sounded solemn.

"Way to go Kai," Oliver pressed his blade into Kai's hands. It was the unicorn.

To everyone's surprise, Kai frowned. He took the blade and pressed it to his wrist.

Mariam froze. "Kai, what are you...?"

"Worthless," Kai murmured and reached into his shoes to take out a small dagger.

"Voila, Kai's drunk and suicidal." Ren sighed.

Kai pulled the sheath off of the dagger and pressed the point lightly to his arm. A small, steady stream of blood came out as the blade sank slowly into his flesh.

Before he could cut off his arm, anything sharp was taken away from around him.

"OK, Kai, you _are drunk_." Tala said with a frown to the snarling Kai. "Your face isn't red; you're not killing anyone... other than yourself. Are you listening?"

"Stay away from me," Kai snarled and hissed in a very convincing voice. He would have had the head of the defense army of even America shivering in fright. His eyes were lightning into gold, with shades of red around the edge of the pupil. He bared his teeth in a dog-like manner, and his teeth seemed sharper than humanly possible.

Of course, Tala was Tala, so he shook Kai by the shoulders. "I'll spill cold water on you, I swear I will."

Kai shot a death glare from the hollow depth of his now golden eyes.

"Ren, get your heartless ass over here," Enrique called from beside Tala. He was getting scared, and he seemed to think that Ren could tame this drunken murderer.

"Not my fault, I never said to get him drunk with... 40 shots of the strongest alcohol possible." Ren called from where he was.

"Ren, get _over here now_!" Enrique... screeched, as one might say. Kai was now flexing his fingers, his nails somehow very long. He was clawing and growling at Tala, who was trying to get as far as possible while keeping Kai from murdering everyone.

"Pathetic," Ren mumbled as he wandered over.

"Do something," Oliver frowned. "It's not like Kai to be so... emotional."

Mariam looked at Kai's trashing figure and raised an eyebrow at Oliver. "Emotional?"

"I'll only get to do this once, I presume." Ren walked over. He looked Kai in the eye. He had naturally gold eyes, and gold met gold. Ren raised his hands and threw a punch to Kai's temples.

Kai's head swung to the side at the hit. He stopped moving for a few moments, and then snapped his attention to Ren, his eyebrows dipped low. A low rumble rose deep in his throat.

"Oh dear, this could get messy." Lars remarked from where he was standing – across the room.

Kai broke free of Tala's hold with ease and slashed his clawed hands towards Ren. It barely hit the side of Ren's face. His other hand came and threw a punch back towards Ren.

"Oliver, I apologize ahead of time for the damage," Ren said almost lazily as he wiped spit from the corner of his mouth. "Kai, come, deal with this outside."

He shot a glare at Enrique. "Thanks for making him drunk."

"He said he doesn't get drunk." Enrique shrugged.

"Anyone would get drunk after 40 shots of the strongest alcohol. Fainting, throwing up and strangely horny behavior I can deal with. But wanting to kill one-self and me, that's a whole different perspective." Ren almost snarled as he guided Kai outside.

"They're going to fight?" Tala asked with eyebrows raised. He rubbed where Kai gave him cuts and bruises. "We can make billions from charging tickets."

"Heh," Mariam said, not amused. "That's if they ever make it through one show."

"True enough," Oliver frowned. "Something must be done. Kai has possession of my bit beast."

"Hey, they could get into a fist fight for all I know," Enrique shrugged and followed the two out.

"What do we do about him?" Mariam nudged Rei with her foot.

"He'll wake up someday," Tala said over his shoulder as he went out as well. Mariam followed suit, along with Oliver.

Rei's eyes snapped open for a brief moment. "Kai and Ren fight?" He muttered with genuine confusion before dropping to sleep again.

¤

A/N: OK, so Kai's suicidal. It would be comical... I mean, if he didn't actually try to kill himself. If Kai wasn't Kai, I would have had him try to cut his wrist with napkins. Of course, that disgraces Kai's character. it's also _tremendously_ out of character, which is what I'm kind of against. :)


	20. Chapter 19: You Got Drunk

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 19

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Watch Kai and Ren fight. Oh boy, this is gonna be fun...

Sorry for the huge delay in updates. Although it's not unusual for me, I did go away, and there were no computers that I had access to, being a 'minor' and all. Stupid... anyway. Enjoy, and I'll get the next chapter up soon, I hope.

* * *

"So, I'm assuming we can't settle this peacefully."

"No."

"OK... did the news people have to come too?" Mariam eyed the camera stuck up to her face.

"Er," Oliver scratched his head. "That I cannot help, they come and go, and they have a pass."

Mariam crossed her arms. "We should be worried about Ren and Kai, and not sit here trying to look calm to the camera."

"Please, miss; you are the civilized of your friends, aside from Tala, who is certainly getting into the 'mood' of Ren and Kai. There is simply no possible way I can bring Enrique in front of public television's eyes." Oliver begged.

"I'm not saying it's bothering me..." Mariam paused. "OK, it's bothering me, but still... can't you just tell them to... shoo?"

Oliver laughed. "Shoo? Oh, that will give the newspapers a laugh. Headline: 'Heir of throne speaks improper grammar; does he hope the word 'Shoo' will be added to the dictionary? Greedy young monarch is asking for more than he's getting, and that's the country. What has the next generation become?' Honestly, Mariam, you have much to learn."

Mariam scowled. "I'm not planning to be anyone important, so... technically, no; I have nothing I need to learn."

"But being among us European royal families... you must pick up something along the way so you will not embarrass us." Oliver winked.

Mariam glared at Oliver. He was like an annoying girl friend at the mall. But then, so was Enrique. She wondered if all European royalties are feminine.

Outside, Kai and Ren were having something close to a fistfight. No blades... but it was obvious, as Kai would have probably been too angry to pull out his blade without ripping whatever the blade was near. This would do fine, as Kai has turned into a monster-like beast. Ren performed something called an over-soul, the process of which he took Bason and merged with him.

Where they got their weapons, no one knows. But a rumour was already spreading about Lars giving them swords he had from the freezer. Why he had them there, no one knew. But then again, Lars was a strange guy.

Rei was still down for the count, Tala and Enrique were betting on who was going to win. Tala was starting to become more open... more of the Tala that Oliver supposedly knew.

So that left Oliver to deal with the press, and Mariam to help him, because there were simply too many reporters. Guess what that led to? Yep, they basically held a press conference in the restaurant.

"Aren't you worried that they'll think I'm your girlfriend or something?" Mariam asked.

"Naw," Oliver smiled mildly. "They already published a story about me being homosexual; I doubt they would contradict themselves. If they did... at least the royalties will have a laugh."

Mariam pasted on a smile and nodded. _What a weird world there is out there..._

¤

"What's that?"

"A Kwan-Dao, you moron,"

"No, the thing you're using to battle Kai."

"THAT'S WHAT I TOLD YOU! IT'S A KWAN-DAO!"

"Jeez, no need to get so emotional."

"YOU TRY NOT GETTING EMOTIONAL TRYING TO ANSWER MORONIC QUESTIONS WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, BATTLING A DRUNKEN, SUICIDAL BEAST!"

"Alright, chill... hey, look, Tala! It's a butterfly!"

"No comment, Enrique."

Mariam sighed as she listened to the, although stupid, but entertaining voices from outside where Ren was battling against Kai. It was kind of like a fist-fight, plus a bit of super-human powers that no one knew they had.

OK, maybe they knew Ren was a bit strange; Kai wasn't the type to get all beastie when it's not the first full moon.

"Miss Mariam, you mentioned about being the victim of an attacked village in China? Is there a possibility that young Mr. Hiwatari did the attacking?"

Mariam blinked out of her trail of thoughts and turned to the newswoman. "Uh, no, I'm certain it wasn't him. It didn't happen on the first day of a full moon, and I'm sure I know what kind of attacker it is."

"Do you care to share?"

"...preferably not."

A flurry of questions started again.

"How well do you know Kai?"

"How do you know he didn't attack your village?"

"You know, he could have been drunk!"

Mariam turned to Oliver with a frown. "How did this all start? Kai's only drunk, I mean... normally, when people are drunk, they don't start a news conference..."

"Yeah, but most people, when they get drunk, don't start a fight with a shaman. Plus, I know him." Oliver sighed. "I'm getting tired."

And so, just like that, he called his dad and his body guards, and at once, the crowd was shooed away by big bulky guys in black sunglasses.

Mariam wondered why he didn't do it earlier.

¤

Ren turned his sword to deflect Kai's attack. Kai snarled like a rabid animal and threw his body into pushing the sword further. Ren frowned and with a swipe of his blade, he jumped out from the receiving end of Kai's attack. Kai fell forward, but caught himself. He quickly turned, just in time to dodge Ren's assault.

But he didn't dodge enough to avoid Ren's blade completely, which slashed his arm, creating a small line of blood. Kai stopped. He calmly wiped the blood with his index finger and licked it.

Ren closed his eyes in disgust. Or rather, Ren and Bason closed _their_ eyes. Everyone watching, if they looked closely, could see, faintly, Bason's aura. Also, Bason's voice was intertwined with Ren's.

"Omae o korosu..."

"That's harsh, Kai, even for you." Enrique commented.

"Shut up, blondie," Tala growled in a sing-song voice, although ironic. No one could quite pull it off as well as him.

"You don't want Kai to turn on you." Oliver shook his head. "Oh, how do we stop this?"

"How do you get a drunken person to stop being drunk?" Mariam questioned.

"Dunk 'em in cold water, of course." Enrique answered absent-mindedly.

Tala turned to Oliver with an eyebrow up. "That has got to be the most intelligent thing he's said." Tala commented with amazement. Oliver turned to Mariam, who tapped her chin.

"That might be a good idea." Oliver flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Lars, get the fire department."

¤

Kai awoke, soaking in cold, dripping liquid. It wasn't humid, it wasn't sticky... but it sure did hurt. There was a metallic taste of blood in his mouth, and he didn't want to guess what it was from. Who knows, he might have gone cannibal and ate some random guy on the street.

"Welcome back, guy-who-doesn't-get-drunk." Ren said, voice dripping with sarcasm and mock immaturity.

Ren was sitting, cross-legged, in front of him. He tore a piece of gauze with his teeth and wrapped it onto his arm, where a cut was starting to bleed so much, the blood dripped off. His clothes had small tears in it, and he was cut. Bason sat beside him, looking at his master with a sorry expression.

Kai looked around and saw everyone watching him. The fire department wsa here too, and he noticed he was sitting in a largepuddle of water. He looked at himself. He was in about the same situation as Ren, with cuts and tears. He spotted two knives on the ground, and Lars who was grinning. He blinked. "What happened?"

Tala tapped his chin. "Well, to put it in a nutshell..."

Kai feared the worst. "Did I...transform?"

"Well, no."

Kai raised an eyebrow.

"You got drunk."

¤

A/N: Short chapter, I know. I've really got to continue with the storyline. If I keep trailing off track to do random little events like this, I'll finish the story at like, chapter 40. - -;;

Anyways. Thank you for everyone who reviewed for the last chapter:

Darksouled Saiyanphoenix: Wow long new name... thanks for all your reviews and support. xD

ShadedRogue: Lmfao, I'd love to meet your friend. I agree, not worth the hangover... but Kai didn't quite get a hangover. But what an idea for the next chapter. Sorry about the fight scene, the sexiness in it you'll have to imagine yourself. ;; I can't quite write of it in that way. Or at least, I haven't tried... I'm not about to anytime soon though! Thanks for your review.

KagomeHigurashi66: Yay for hyperness. And yes, Kai was supposed to be kind of... insane. Thanks for your review.

Lunar Fire: Yeah, but I'm just gonna imagine that Zeo never tried to take the bladebreaker's bit-beasts. xD Ren can handle Kai just fine, being Ren and all... I love Ren, he's awesome. Thanks for your congrat, and for your review. xDD

Odd-12345: Is it getting annoying that I keep repeating I like your name? If not, I like your name. There's that song... what is it again? '_I am slowly going crazy, 123456 switch, crazy going slowly am I, 654321 switch.'_ Lol... sorry about the weirdness. Anyway. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope I'm not boring you out with this story.


	21. Chapter 20: Inbetween Chapter

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 20

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Wow, I'm at chapter 20. Anyway, here's Lee, Mariah and Zeo for you all. At last... heheh, I can't believe I didn't write about them for like, 5 chapters. What babbles I've updated... enjoy my newest page of babbles!

¤

"Which one didn't we get?"

Lee, Mariah and Zeo sat around in a circle.

"Which ones did we need?" Mariah asked Zeo.

"We were originally supposed to get Rat, Snake, Monkey, Rooster, and Ram." Zeo listed off.

Lee fumbled with the box that they used to keep all the bit beasts they got. "We have snake, ram, rooster, monkey..." He said as he emptied out the box.

"Which one do we need?"

"Rat," Mariah frowned. "No one turned us down though. I wonder if the owner never came."

"No, all the sacred bit beasts were at the event." Lee shook his head. "They all had to come."

"The festival was wonderful," Zeo smiled. "The food was good."

"Did you like the egg spring rolls? I developed the recipe with my mom." Mariah said proudly, trailing off topic.

Lee was about to remind them, when a knocking came from the door. An envelope was slipped under the door's crack.

Mariah blinked and got up to get the package. It was from a part of china she's never been to, one of the farm villages.

"What is that?" Zeo asked, curious.

Mariah shook it like a small child with her Christmas present. She handed it to Lee, who ripped it open with expertise. He flipped the envelope upside down and a small chip dropped out. It was a perfect circle, and in the middle, a rat was looking at them with golden eyes, his long tail twirled around him.

"I guess the rat was eating all their crops."

"Well, I say we did much better collecting bit-beasts than them." Lee commented after everyone got over the shock. He had a grin on his face as he faced Mariah, who was smiling widely. Zeo looked pleased as well.

"Let's see how they are doing." Zeo reached into his pocket to pull out a small portable phone. He dialled a number neither Mariah nor Lee recognized.

"Hello?"

It was Kai's voice.

"Hello Kai, this is Zeo." Zeo put him on speaker.

A frustrated sigh came from the other end. "Does everyone know I have a cell phone except me?"

"Nope," Mariah spoke up. "I didn't know."

"Nor me." Lee replied.

"Who is it?" It was Mariam's voice.

"It's Zeo, Lee and Mariah." Kai replied.

"Awesome, I wanna talk to them!" It was a different voice...

"Enrique, shut up." That was Tala.

"Guys, get along."

"Is that Oliver?" Lee asked; a tone of recognition weaved with his voice. "And Enrique?"

"Yep, the two and only,"

"If you don't know how to reply properly, don't." Ren's voice came.

Zeo smiled.

"Where's Rei?" Mariah asked eagerly.

"Uh, he's... well..." The three could just picture Oliver tugging at his collar as he said it.

"What happened to him? Did he get hurt?" Mariah demanded.

"He better not have," Lee frowned.

"No, not hurt, just drunk." Ren was the one to break the bad news.

"And he's a bit unconscious." Tala added.

"But hey, on the bright side, Kai was drunk too, and he got really suicidal. Then he and Ren got into this huge fight, and we had to call the fire department to pour cold water on him in order for him to snap out of it. They were all beastie and fighting... it was really cool. We didn't have the heart to wake Rei, but at least he didn't get suicidal like Kai. Oh, and Oliver had a press conference in the restaurant, and I think I saw one of the rare butterflies. Oh, and Ren was using this weird thing called Kwan-Dao —"

"SHUT UP!" Came Tala's voice.

"Oh, go eat poop." Enrique's voice shot back.

"Both of you!" Sounds of smacking came along with Mariam's voice, and they guessed that she slapped them in the head.

"Anyways," Oliver's voice was oblivious. "How is it in China?"

"Not as insane." Lee commented.

"We got all the rest of the bit beasts in China." Zeo said, and the background noises stopped.

"Really?"

"Wow, guys, that's awesome!"

"Way to go."

"At least someone's doing work."

"We got the Griffon and the Unicorn. We are going to Greece next, probably. When are we meeting up again?" Kai questioned.

"Um, we can't quite get to where you are."

"I'll send a plane to pick you all up." Oliver offered.

"That would be very nice." Zeo said dreamily. "I'd like to visit Greece. Are you both coming along?"

No one had thought of that, apparently, because both sides became silent.

"I doubt we can, truthfully." Enrique sounded serious.

"I've got much to do here," Oliver frowned.

"My dad got me guards so that I wouldn't escape from my lessons. He'll probably say that this would be useless."

"We understand." Zeo said solemnly, in a strangely quiet and mature way.

"Well, I guess we'll see you in a few hours, or a day." Tala said.

"There is really no need for you to send an extra plane." Ren commented to Oliver. "I shall just go back in my father's plane and pick them up, and then we can visit North America."

"What about Greece?" Lee questioned.

"I hope you'll understand if we go onto Greece without you." Ren spoke into the phone. "It will not take much time, and it will give you three some time to relax. Please make sure Zeo is properly introduced to different things. I apologize for burdening you with my job. In a few days, we will come over, pick you three up, and fly straight to North America. I remember Rei saying that there are no bit beasts left in Europe except the Pegasus."

"That's fine, I suppose." Mariah shrugged, although no one from the other end could see it.

"Then it's settled. We shall see you in time. Good bye." Ren's footsteps told them that he left, probably to try to wake Rei.

"We should go too." Kai spoke. "If you want, call us in a day or so, and Mariah will be able to speak to Rei."

Mariah's face reddened.

"Alright, bye." Lee said.

"Goodbye." Zeo pressed a button on the phone to hang up.

¤

"Thank you for supporting our search." Kai said smoothly in perfect Greek.

"We are glad to assist those of such sacred power. It is surely a sign of the gods, and we will do as it is said." The Greek priest bowed deeply. "We will pray Athena for your knowledge, Poseidon for determination, and Zeus for power. Apollo's Pegasus... we hope it will assist you."

"Thank you once again." Tala nodded with appreciation.

"Goodbye; we will look to the sky when the day arrives." The priest cried, raising his hands into the air.

"Are we the only ones who cannot speak Greek?" Mariam muttered out of the corner of her mouth to Rei, while Ren translated what everyone was saying.

"From the looks of it, yeah," Rei nodded slowly. "Let's be on our way."

"You miss Mariah?" Tala raised a brow.

"You've been under the influence of Enrique for too long." Rei shook his head.

Tala froze for a fraction of a second before closing his mouth.

"So, what have we got left?"

"Fox, Deer, Phoenix of light." Rei ticked off.

"We're doing very well." Ren nodded.

"The hard part is about to come..." Tala frowned. "I can almost feel it."

"Until then, off to pick up the others," Mariam said almost cheerily as she got out of the humid weather and into the cold plane.

¤

A/N: OK, so, an 'inbetween' chapter. I'm actually almost done this fic! Maybe I'll finish it... and that'll be the first ever fic for me to finish. Wow...

Thanks to all who reviewed:

Blackdranzergurl: Kai's quite out of character... eh, it is an AU story, after all. Thanks for the review. :)

ShadedRogue: Ah! Oh goodness... I _forgot_ completely about Kai's little hangover! Ugh... I'll add it into the next chapter. Hey, people can assume that he was just very happy during Greece, right? Right? TT So sad... that would've been hilarious. Anyways, thanks for your review. Hope you liked this chapter.

Darksouled saiyanphoenix: S'OK, I'm OK with long names. (Looks at own name...) I came up with it actually during art class. Whoo, I'm a nerd. xD Hope you liked the chapter, and thanks for the review.

Lunar Fire: Glad you found the chapter funny. Yes, Ren did change quite a bit from the dubbed version... he's much more awesome throughout the subbed version. He's more hilarious too. Here's your chapter – hope you liked it. Thanks for reviewing.

Werecat Rei: Hey! You changed your name! That's cool... I wanted to change mine, but then, it would get confusing for me, and the handful of readers that I have... - -;; How can anyone not love your old name? The new one's cool too though. Thanks for reviewing!

Jacy: Glad you enjoyed my story. Thanks for reviewing!

KagomeHigurashi66: Yay for sugar and caffeine! ("As long as you don't overdose..." "Oh no, doctor, it looks like we've lost her.") It's the heat, getting to me. Anyways. Thanks for reviewing, and hope you liked the chapter.

UPDATE: JUNE 14 - What Tala said, "Miss Mariam" was a typo. It was supposed to be "You miss Mariah?" Ugh... so terribly embaressing. Please forgive me...


	22. Chapter 21: Enter Max

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 21

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Thanks for everyone who reviewed. xDD

Apologies for the lack of update, although it's not uncommon, this break was pretty long. It's all due to my moving to Houston, and my internet being cut off almost a month before I actually moved. But here is the update, although short, and I will get the next chapters up as soon as possible.

---

"Ah, it's so good to be back on the road." Lee stretched on his seat on the airplane.

Kai gave him a lazy glare, before popping two more Advil pills into his mouth.

"Kai, are you trying to murder yourself?" Ren asked as he narrowed his eyes at the half-empty Advil bottle.

"I've got a killer headache." He replied in a un-Kai voice. "It must be the hangover. God, I hate you guys."

"Kai, it's been nearly a week since the alcohol incident." Tala reminded.

"I guess my nervous system kicks in later than it should." Kai mumbled as he put a hand on his head.

Suddenly, he felt a warm hand trailing down his thigh. He saw out of the corners of his eyes that it was Mariam. Suddenly, without any control, his face started to burn and his head throbbed worse than ever.

Laughter filled his ears, and Mariam's hand was gone.

"No, Kai, I think your nerves are working fine." Mariam winked.

Kai slouched a bit in his seat and popped in another Advil. "I'll just sleep."

---

A ringing startled Kai out of his sleep. Immediately, his head started to pound heavily. He looked outside – it was pitch black. Everyone else was snuggled up. It was quite cute, seeing Mariah leaning on Rei's shoulders as they snoozed. But now's not the time...

"Kai, it's your cell phone." Rei murmured in his half-asleep state.

Kai blinked heavily and rubbed his eyes childishly. "Hello?" He answered groggily.

"Hi Kai!"

"Max, how did you get the phone number?"

"Oh, I forget. But when are you guys landing?"

"How about you let us sleep, and we'll call you when we land?" Kai slapped his phone down and walked back to his seat.

Then the phone rang again.

"Kai, shut the damn phone off..." Ren mumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow he was hugging to his face.

"Hello?" Kai said, but the phone continued to ring.

"You have to flip it open..." Mariam reminded him, her voice sleepy.

Kai flipped open his phone. "Hello?"

"When exactly are you guys landing?"

"Around 7 in the morning,"

"Thanks!"

Kai let the phone drop with a clunk onto the floor, and grabbed a pillow and went back to sleep.

---

"You GUYS!" Max's voice could be heard the moment they landed in the rented area in the airport.

"Oh boy, it's Maxie," Rei smiled helplessly. "Everybody cold hearted, brace your-selves."

Ren froze. "Meaning...?"

"It's going to be unpleasant." Tala warned.

"Hi Max," Lee greeted.

"LEE! REI! TALA! MARIAM! MARIAH! KAI! FREAKY GUY WITH POINTY HAIR! OBLIVIOUS-LOOKING GUY! WOW! It's been for-_ever!_" Max exclaimed, jumping with excitement, waving his arms around animatedly.

"Freaky guy with pointy hair...?" A vein popped out on Ren's forehead.

"This is Ren." Mariah said quickly.

"REN!" Max plastered himself onto the Chinese.

"GET – OFF – ME!" Ren growled and started to wry the younger American off.

"Unpleasant," Tala nodded knowledgably.

Zeo watched with interest as Ren and Max wrestled around. "This Max is surprisingly strong."

"Ah, yes," Rei said, face showing a mix of 'cold and hot', as if reliving a memory he'd rather forget, "The 'Max Hug'."

"A tad dangerous," Mariam agreed.

Kai grunted, an ice pack pressed onto his head.

"I am a magnet to over-friendly idiots." Ren grumbled, with Max hanging off his shoulders.

"So, Max, how's America?" Mariah asked; her voice excited.

"Which city will we be living at?" Zeo asked.

"It's brilliant." Max told Mariah, immediately getting off of Ren, making him crash into a nearby cart. Max spread his arms wide. "Welcome to New York!"

---

"This is certainly one of the busy places," Tala commented.

"Yep," Max answered cheerily. "We're only staying here for a day, before moving off into Canada, where the bit beasts are most likely living in."

"Why Canada?" Mariam asked curiously.

"The natives of North America were more centered up there." Max answered. "Don't know why, since it's warmer down here, but they didn't exactly move down here until quite a bit later."

"You've done your research," Ren muttered.

"Yep." Max spoke, almost like a proud dog barking to show off. A large grin was on his face.

"I wonder how it is like in Canada." Mariah sighed. "Is it going to be as busy as here?"

"No," Kai answered. "Canada's less concentrated."

"Good," Lee coughed. "I might be a bit claustrophobic."

Max waved his hand. "It's just the pollutions."

"You say it like it is nothing." Zeo sighed.

"It is nothing." Max smiled. "They're working on air filters that will purify the air, everywhere."

"I haven't heard of that," Rei said, interested.

"We didn't know they made androids either," Mariam motioned at Zeo.

Tala grunted.

"Wow, android?" Max gasped. "That's really cool!"

"Thanks," Zeo looked down good naturedly, blushing slightly.

Mariam and Mariah immediately started cooing over how cute Zeo was when he did that.

Ren raised an eyebrow at Zeo's behaviour. "Gee, I wonder if father made him to attract women,"

"Just because you can't get any," Lee grinned.

"Oh, and I see many arm candies you've got." Ren retorted back lazily.

"Loosen up," Lee nudged him with a smile.

"We need to get you a girl," Tala made a note.

"Why me?" Ren protested, putting his hands up in defence.

"Because you're the bitterest," Rei put his arms around Ren's neck and pulled Ren into a semi head lock, all the while keeping a mischievous smile.

Mariah and Mariam sighed.

"Boys," Mariah shook her head.

"Will be boys," Mariam finished, sighing.

"Rei –"

"Will be yours."

"You know me too well." Mariah laughed.

"I know," said Mariam, and gave a wink.

---

A/N: Not much, I know. But another it's just another in between chapter. Next chapter – straight to Canada, which I just moved out of. –sigh- Better get my memory jogging.


	23. Chapter 22: Ren's Dilema

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 22

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Thanks for everyone who reviewed.

BTW, it's been a while since the disclaimer, so, naturally, I don't own most of this stuff. The cities, bit beasts, people... but it is _fan-fiction_ dot net, so... the disclaimer shouldn't really be needed.

---

After the nine people, plus a hired driver, crammed into an 8-person minivan, they were on the road to Canada.

Well, on the road to the train station, with a train that will eventually lead them to Canada.

It was slightly awkward. In order to fit everyone in, they removed all the seats, locked all the doors, and secured everything in place. Even though, they couldn't help cramming into each other whenever there was a turn. Zeo was offered the passenger seat, and he took it, mostly to prevent any malfunctions, technical difficulties or sudden, unknown reflexes popping out when someone bumped into him.

It was actually a pretty roomy van, and everyone could fit in perfectly. Until turning corners, everyone was happy.

But when they turned the corner...

"Get OFF!" Tala choked as Max nearly somersaulted over everyone and crashed into him.

"Gomen!" Max whined. "I can't help it."

"Mariah, you aren't going to die." Rei nudged Mariah, who attached herself very tightly to his arm.

They took another turn. "Yes I am!"

Kai turned to Mariam, who also held onto his arm.

"Two people are heavier than one." Mariam said; her voice flat. Her other hand was clutching one of the seatbelts beside her. "I, for one, don't want to end up like Max."

Ren, however, seemed perfectly normal as crouched in an impossible position to stand on, even on flat ground. It was as if he sat on invisible air.

"What are you –?" Lee looked at Ren, bewildered.

"I did training." Ren muttered as the car took another turn, and he stood, seemingly unaffected.

"I did training too!" Lee exclaimed. "This is gravitational forces we're talking about here."

"You can learn to conquer them."

Ren smirked, and out of the corner of his lips, he wispered a thank you to Bason.

"How long is this ride, sir?" Zeo asked nicely to the driver.

"You're looking at about 20 more minutes," The man grunted.

"Hear that?" Max said gratefully. "20 minutes."

---

"Oh boy, twenty minutes, eh?" Lee stretched as he got out of the van. "Felt like an hour."

"Please don't tell us we're going to be crammed on the train as well?" Kai looked around.

"No, I booked the first class leisure train." Max said, grinning. "It was hard, considering my age, they thought I was joking. Thanks for getting the cash in on time, Kai."

"I didn't pay," Kai shook his head. "I lost financial support from my grandfather, aside from my cell-phone, quite a while ago."

Rei, Lee and Mariah nodded, remembering the event of which Kai's private jet took off without him.

"Well, it said Kai Hiwatari on the envelope for the money order." Max frowned. "Who would have paid for it?"

Silence fell.

"Let's not worry about that." Tala shook his head. "Worry about it when the bill came."

"Good idea," Mariam agreed as they made their way to the train.

"We're quite the crowd, aren't we?" Mariah looked among them. "Nine people... I hope the other people in business class can stand our noise."

"I am sure that they can," Zeo smiled sincerely.

"Honestly," Ren mumbled to himself.

"Oh, and by the way," Rei called as they entered the train. "Be on the look out for a girl for Ren."

"N-nani?" Ren jumped back a feet. "You were serious?"

"You're just too bitter Ren," Tala said in a fake comforting voice as he smirked.

The rest of the seven people nodded almost comically.

Ren stuffed his hands in his face. "Oh, dear God, help me."

---

And from then on, Ren became paranoid and extremely cautious. It was strange, as the teen was usually the most confident and sarcastic, but everyone had their moments, supposedly. Except that this was getting ridiculous.

"Would you like a –"

"No."

The woman frowned with confusion. She put one hand on her cart. "Are you sure you wouldn't like a –"

"I _said no!_"

"Sorry miss, don't mind my friend."

The attendant looked at Max, who was seated in front of Ren.

"He's a bit jumpy, because of a certain friendly threat that was taken seriously." Max flashed one of his innocent smiles.

"Oh, that's quite alright." The attendant smiled back good-naturedly and nodded before moving on.

"_sorry__ miss, don't mind my friend._" Ren mimicked. _"He's just a bit jumpy, because of a **friendly** threat that was taken seriously_ – seriously, who are you trying to kid?"

"She bought it." Kai retorted from the seat beside Ren's. "And he saved your sorry ass from being reported and thrown off the first class."

Ren cursed.

"It's not like we're going to get someone who's ugly, or annoying," Rei smiled as he looked over his seat, which was beside Max.

Ren opened his mouth, but was interrupted.

"In our standards, that is." Mariah winked from the seat across the isle.

"Just loosen up," Mariam said exasperatedly.

Ren sulked and sank into his seat, which was leather and very pouf.

Silence fell. Everyone looked expectantly at Tala and Zeo in their seat, but they were busy discussing the true meaning of Edgar Allen Poe's poem, and why the world was on a downfall – politics, economics, or human sins.

"You know," A female voice startled them. It was one of the attendants who passed by earlier. "I had a friend who was similar to you. You just need to find someone you're happy with."

"Oh, that's real easy," Ren nodded; his voice a bit higher than usual. His eyes were wide with fake innocence and sarcasm. "Yeah, I'll just go out on the street and love someone."

"Ren's..." Kai paused.

"Cold?"

"Rude?"

"Sarcastic?"

"Sturdy?"

"Strong?"

"Freaky?"

"Different?"

"Queer?"

"Wait," Rei froze. "Isn't queer another word for Gay?"

"Are you gay?" Mariam inquired in a sort of British accent.

Ren quivered. "_I.__ Am. Not. Fucking. Gay!"_

"Don't worry," Kai assured, not very assuring, as his voice was deadpan. "They thought I was gay too, before certain things happened."

Everyone raised a suggesting eyebrow at him.

He sighed, exasperated. "Oh, grow up,"

"Well, I'm not sure if I'm much assistance," A male voice said from further behind. "But I am a emotional psychologists, and I could do a quick session, just because I'm interested.

"No thanks." Ren said; his voice suspicious.

"Yes please," Mariam muttered under her breath. Mariah nodded in agreement.

"Yes please?" Lee asked, back from the restroom as he sat down in the single seat behind Mariam and Mariah. "What did I miss?"

---

A/N: Before anything happens, I reread my chapter, and I'm sorry for it's shortness. I'm also sorry if there's any content that offended someone, like the argument about being homosexual. I personally have nothing against gay or lesbian people. So, I'm very sorry if I offended anyone in any way.

Oh, and a big bouquet for everyone who reviewed. I love you all!

OK, I need a vote. Two votes, actually, so please help. The following is the issue voted on, and the choices.

**The 'Girl' issue**

a) All those in favour of Ren getting a girl.

b) All those not in favour of Ren getting a girl

**The 'Who' issue**

a) All those in favour of him getting someone we already know, from either Beyblade, Shaman King, or some other anime that's likely. In saying that I mean no one, like Kagome, or something. Which would be terribly gross.

b) OC!

When answering, please, for the sake of my recording down votes, put something like "Ren should get a girl, and he should get –" or "Him, a girl? What a waste of time." I hope I wasn't too confusing. If I was, just put down your opinion on the Ren subject.

Oh, and Review please. xD


	24. Chapter 23: Conflict and Pirika

**Tainted Blood**

Chapter 23

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Wow...20 people reviewed... that's a new record for me. Sad... but alas, true. I'm so happy (not because of the reviews), but because one of the reviews reminded me of one of my lost trains of thoughts – who should Ren be paired up with?

I'm sorry to say that I agree with Lunar Fire on the fact that it should not be an OC, as I personally don't like OCs in stories, especially when paired up with one of the guys (that are one of my favourites), and Blackdranzergurl, on the fact that the person should not be the same personality, as opposites attract, most of the time. And the reason I'm sorry because all you people reviewed for basically nothing. --;

Well, I have my person in mind, and much thanks to blissfulrain. (Whose penname I adore... xD) because she first reminded me.

I also agree with the fact that there are simply too many characters. I'll have to kill them off somehow... or get rid of them... or kick them out... hm. But Ren really needs a girl.

It seems like I have to watch the first few episodes of Shaman King again. –sigh- I'm starting to lose touch of their characteristics...

Oh, and one last thing. There seemed to be a slight confusion with the dub/sub in Shaman King. In the subbed version (the real version, I prefer calling it. I admit, I did watch the dubbed at first. Then I realized how girly Ren's voice is...) Ren's name is Ren. In Japanese and most Asian languages, the R from Ren is pronounced somewhat like an L, especially in names. (Like if Ren was kanji, it would actually be pronounced like an R... am I making it even more confusing?) Also, in the dubbed version, En Tao is indeed Ren's uncle. But in the series, it clearly says father. (Hey, even I can recognize a little bit of Japanese, despite the sub-titles staring me in the face.)

Last thing – I'm not sure what Manta's name is in the subbed. I think it might be something like Monty... well, just in case, he's a little midget-ish guy (who, I've recently discovered as I re-watched a few of my episodes, lives in a mansion).

I will try to include the least amount of Shaman King Magic possible, and as much of character description.

---

Two Days Later

---

Ren was walking alone.

It was almost a miracle to be away from those idiots, who seemed to be everywhere, all the time. Maybe during his sleep, they cut him open and stuck a giant chunk of metal in him. And while Ren tried to sneak away, that freaky guy Max would hold up a huge magnet...

Ren shook his head. What a horrible and wild imagination.

Suddenly, Ren felt his back hit the concrete sidewalk.

"Kami-sama!"

Soon enough, waterfalls were running down Ren's face as he found out that he was tackled to near-death by none other than his old friends – Yoh and Horo-Horo. Of course, Anna, Horo's annoying little sister and the one who had a crush on Yoh – Tamao was it – and Ryu was there too. But in more ways than one, Ren was glad that none of them tackled him. It was strange enough, watching Ryu plaster himself on Billy whenever a ride was given. **(1)**

And Ryu was styling his usual hair-do – Elvis hair on steroids, to put it politely.

_Why couldn't it have been a giant purple thing? At least I could slice that thing in half once and for all..._

After what seemed like forever, Ren finally got the people off of him. "Where's Manta?" He questioned; usually a midget who lived in a mansion was with them. Especially Yoh – he was like a dog.

"He couldn't come," Yoh shrugged. "Something about a scholarship he couldn't refuse..." He sighed and resumed his usual position – his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. "Who knows what he meant."

"I'm pretty sure he meant that a university offered him a free entrance." Anna's voice drifted, coldly, as usual. Yoh gave a small laugh.

"Right,"

"Anyway," Horo-Horo crossed his arms and his lips fell into it's usual smirked. "Ryu here kindly brought us here from Patch Village." He looked around, but the freakishly hairy taller man was gone. "Ryu?"

"He had to go, remember?" The little blue-haired girl, Horo's sister, nudged her brother.

"Who's she?"

"That's Horo's little sister." Tamao offered helpfully.

"I know that," Ren snorted.

"I'm Pirika," The blue-haired girl winked, her head tipping to the side cutely.

Ren blinked.

_We need to get you a girl... you're too bitter..._

A slow blush crept up Ren's cheek, as heprocessedthrougha major breakout inside his mind over the fact that he's blushing.

--

"Who are they?" Mariah whispered to Mariam questioningly. Mariam shrugged.

"Friends?"

Yoh has his earphones on – extremely large, sound-blocking, orange and black earphones that he wore behind his ears when not in use. He was dressed in his casuals – white t-shirt, loose pants, wooden clogs. That same stupid grin sat on his face as he stuck his hands behind his head. "What's up, guys?"

Anna narrowed her eyes, keeping them on her fiancé. Ren took a mental note that Anna, who used to bea very average blond, seemed to have high lights. Perhaps it was the sun, perhaps it was to get Yoh's attention; Yoh, who finally won the Shaman fight and became King. Ren scowled.

"You're too bitter and clogged up." Horo-Horo, the blue haired boy smirked and Ren nearly cut his head off while they played a game of cards and Horo-Horo tried to peek.

"See! You _are_ bitter!" Max grinned in great triumph. "I told you! I toldyouItoldyouItoldyouItoldyouItoldyouItoldyou –"

"Oh, Max, shut _up_," Kai rubbed his forehead.

"The hangover still hasn't gone?" Rei looked puzzled.

"It's a new migraine." Kai replied.

Rei took one look at the hopping Max and understood.

"So, what brings all of you to Canada?" Ren asked.

"Remember Patch village?" Anna said, sounding all-knowing. "We heard there was a Stitch Village too, where people, similar to the priests of Patch Village, are. But so far, all we've come across is this store called "Stiches", filled with clothing fit for whores."

Mariah blinked, and a frown fell on her face at the girl's boldness. "Hey, I like Stitches!"

"Don't mind Anna," Yoh said pleasantly. "She can be a bit bold."

Mariah turned her nose up to the sky.

"Anyways," Pirika appeared with a bright smile from behind Anna. "I need to go see those people, because the people from Patch Village told me I could get some help from them, the Stitch Village people, for restoring my home, and the habitation for all its spirits."

"Stitch Village?" Max rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I think that sounds familiar."

"Perhaps it's where we're going?" Tala commented sarcastically.

"Right!" Max brightened up. "Tala, you are so _smart_."

Nearby, Kai coughed.

---

A few hours later...

---

"So, we'll leave her with you?"

Ren had no idea how this happened. One moment, they were discussing their route to Stitch Village. The next, Anna, Tamao and Horo-Horo started to argue, while Yoh stared at them, bewildered.

And suddenly, just as Ren finally zoned them out, they had reached an agreement of some sort.

"Huh?" That was the famous Ren Tao's oh-so-intelligent words of reply.

"Weren't you listening?" Anna snapped. "We're all tired. We're going to Japan, and leaving Pirika with you guys. I'm sure it'll do fine, won't it? You guys are going to Patch Village anyways, and as you go back to China, you can drop her off at Japan, with the many private planes you said you have."

Ren's eyebrow twitched. "You're leaving _her_ with _me?_"

Anna nodded.

Suddenly, Ren started clawing at hishair. "IDO_NOT_ want _ANY_ responsibility towards _**ANYONE**_!"

"Well, then, you heard him," Horo-Horo sounded almost relieved. "Come on, then, Pirika, I'm sure Yoh will start fixing it soon enough."

"But he _isn't_!" Pirika stomped the ground beneath her, a small vein pulsing on her forehead. "That Yoh knows only of sleep and eat! Just let me go by myself if I have to."

Horo-Horo sighed, exasperated. "But you're not old enough –"

"I am SO old enough!" Pirika fumed, crossing her arms. "You are such a jerk!"

Ren narrowed his eyes. It was as if everyone ignored him. Which wasn't right, because no one ignores Tao Ren.

"Well, then come with us."

Ren looked across his shoulders to see Mariah standing at the doorway, an exited smile on her face. "I'm sure no one will mind, right Ren?"

Ren was about to say no, when he felt a sharp jab on at his back, where Mariah's foot collided with him.

_Why are women so violent?_

"See, Onee-chan?" Pirika smiled with triumph. "This way, after a few weeks, you can go home, with Kororo, and our old village back."

A small creaturegave a squeeat the sound of her name. She appeared behind Horo-Horo's back, peering over.

"Kororo..." Horo-Horo sweat-dropped.

"Well, then, there's not much to do about it, is there?"

Ren jumped and turned to see Rei, Kai, Mariam, Lee, Zeo and Tala filing in.

"You'll need the extra girl, anyways," Lee gave a moronically evil smirk.

Soon, Ren was surrounded by Lee, Tala and Rei with their individual smirk, and Zeo there just to take note of the funny expressions on each guy's face.

"It'll help you with your bitterness," Kai assured.

"You too?" Ren's sounded exasperated and desperate.

Kai shrugged. "If you can't beat 'em; join 'em. And they can be pre-tty viole, too."

"Alright then," Mariam, having overheard the conversation, smiled. "You can come with us."

Before any cheering could start over the small decision, however, Kai stepped up, his eyebrows in a frown.

"Under one condition."

"What's that?" Yoh asked.

It was the question on everyone's minds.

"You need... someone to protect you."

Pirika blinked. "Why?"

"Because," Kai sighed hesitantly. "I might kill you."

---

**(1)** Billy is this driver of a truck who seems to be homosexual with Ryu, who always sees Ryu's big hitch-hiker thumb (oversoul – spirit into... uh, sword or thumb, couldn't tell).

A/N: Not meant to bea cliffy! Sorry it took so long to update. School had started in August. It's insane, how early school starts in the US. But anyways, I need another vote. --;; Because of an issue one of the reviewers brought up. I seem to very indecisive, ne?

Who should I remove for now?

a) Zeo

b) Lee

c) Mariah

d) Tala

e) Max

f) No One! The story's fine! And don't waste the effort.

Or if you have a betters suggestion, feel free. (I cannot let Kai, Mariam, Rei, Ren nor Pirika go yet. The first three because they're necessary; Ren and Pirika because their section of the story just started.)

Most likely, Max will go soon anyways. We all hate to see him go... the cute, very manically hyper little dude...

Anyhoot. I believe that's it... yes, and I hope I haven't lost all my readers.


End file.
